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UNDER CANVAS; 



OR, 



Tent Worship in Summer Months, 



EMBRACING 

CONTRIBUTIONS OF EMINENT CLEKGYMEN, 

OF ALL denominations; 

AND MUCH GENERAL AND VALUABLE INFORMATION ON THE GOSPEL 
TENT, A MEANS FOR SUMMER WORSHIP AND REVIVAL. 



BY 

WILLIAM B. MUCKLOW. 



"A CLOUD COVERED THE TENT OF THE CONGREGATION, AND THE GLORY 

of the Lord filled the tabernacle." — Exod. xl,, 34. 







NEW YOEK: 
Atlantic Publishing and Engraving Company. 

1876. 






<\\ 



3 



n# 



>< 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the tear 1876, 

By WILLIAM B. MUOKLOW.. 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at "Washington. 



holt brothers, 

Printers, 
151 William Street, 

NEW YORK. 



CRUM & RIXGLER 


Electrotypers, 


113 Nassau St., 


NEW YORK. 



The Key. STEPHEN H. TYNG, Jr., D.D., 
Rector of the Church of the Holy Trinity, 

(Forty-Second Street and Madison Avenue, New York,) 

IN CONSIDERATION OF HIS UNWEARIED LABORS IN THE LORD'S CAUSE, AND AS 
THE ORIGINATOR OF THE GOSPEL TENT, A MEANS FOR SUMMER WORSHIP 
AND REVIVAL, AS WELL AS IN CONSIDERATION OF MANY ACTS OF LOVE 
AND KINDNESS RECEIVED AT HIS HANDS, 

THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
By His Faithful and Obliged Servant, 

THE COMPILER. 



PRE E A C E. 

The special religious services carried on in the Gospel Tent, in Thirty- 
Fourth street, New York City, during the exceptionally hot summer of 1876, 
were so unprecedented both in character and result, that no excuse or apology 
need be made for this publication, the main object of which will be accom- 
plished if, in the future, the Lord has dedicated to Him canvas tabernacles 
in the principal cities of the United States, wherein to proclaim His glorious 
Gospel during the summer months. 

It is to be sincerely hoped that the excellent and varied matter con- 
tributed to this book by God's appointed servants, will be circulated and 
read to the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, and with that prayer 
it is sent forth to the people. It will be found that the Gospel of Christ, 
which is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth, is pro- 
claimed with great plainness of speech and in no uncertain key. May sinners 
read and be converted ; saints edified and strengthened in grace and knowl- 
edge ; and God grant that not one word in the following pages may be written 
contrary to His Divine will, or prove a stumbling block to either saint or 
sinner. 

Sincere and grateful thanks are returned to the many kind friends who 
have so generously assisted in the compilation of the volume. 

W. B. M. 

New York City, November 7th, 1876. 



CONTENTS 



*♦ * 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE. 

Introductory 9 



CHAPTER II. 
Tent Worship.— Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, jr. , P.D., 19 

CHAPTER III. 
The Lost Sheep Sought and Found.— Rev. Robert Russell Booth, D.D.,... 32 

CHAPTER TV. 
Indecision. — Rev. William Lloyd 40 

CHAPTER V. 
Self-Condemnation. — Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, jr., D.D., 47 

CHAPTER VI. 
Faith.— Rev. C. C. Tiffany -. 58 

CHAPTER VII. 
Vain Excuses.— Rev. J. D.Herr 66 

CHAPTER VIII. 
One Thing is Needful.— Rev. William S. Rainsford, B.A., 76 

CHAPTER IX. 
Centennial Celebration. — General Henry Edwin Tremain 81 



VI CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER X. 
Touching Jesus. — Rev. L. G. Barrett 9q 

CHAPTER XL 

Great Salvation.— Rev. William Lloyd 97 

» 
CHAPTER XII. 

Let us Alone.— Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, jr., D.D., 104 

CHAPTER XIII. 
The Valley of Decision. — Rev. Joseph Odell 116 

CHAPTER XIV. 
The Bubden in Word and in Wear.— Rev. Joseph Odell 121 

CHAPTER XV. 
Value of a Soul.— Rev. William S. Rainsford, B. A., 126 

CHAPTER XVI. 
How to Please God.— Rev. William Humpstone 132 

CHAPTER XVn. 
Christ's Appeal for Admission.— Rev. J. W. Bonham 138 

CHAPTER XVHI. 
Finished Salvation.— Rev. DanaM. Walcott 146 

CHAPTER XIX. 
Good News From a Far Country.— Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, jr., D.D 152 

CHAPTER XX. 
What Are You Going to Do ?— Rev. J. Spencer Kennard 163 

CHAPTER XXL 
Christ our Rock, Refuge and Refreshment.— Rev. Wm. Ormiston, D.D., 171 

CHAPTER XXII. 
Jesus Knocketh, Knocketh at thy Door.— Rev. William Lloyd 182 



CONTENTS. Vll 

CHAPTER XXIII. 
Not Yet.— Rev. Charles F. Deems, D.D., 189 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
The World.— Rev. William S. Rainsford, B.A., 201 

CHAPTER XXV. 
Love to Jesus. — Rev. William S. Rainsford, B. A., 209 

CHAPTER XXVI. 
Great Gladness and Joy. — Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, jr., D.D., 218 

CHAPTER XXVII. 
Winning Souls to Jesus, and Souls Won. — W. B. Mucklow 231 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 
Gospel Tent Hymns and Tunes. — Prof. Theodore E. Perkins 243 

CHAPTER XXIX. 
Sowing the Seed. — A. S.Emmons ....255 

CHAPTER XXX. 
Free Salvation. — Rev. David Inglis, D.D., 262 

CHAPTER XXXI. 
Glad Tidings by Young Soldiers. — William P. Griffith 268 

CHAPTER XXXII. 
Windows of the Word, For S. S. Teachers.— Rev. S. H. Tyng, jr., D.D.,..277 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 
The Long Walk, For Young Converts. — Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, jr., D.D.,..287 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 
Conclusion 296 



CHAPTER I, 



INTRODUCTORY. 



It will scarcely be denied that religious fervor and earnest 
Christian work have hitherto been conspicuous only by their 
absence during the summer months. And why? We confess 
that to sit in a luxurious church supplied with all the requisites 
for warmth and comfort during the winter, is, after all, but a poor 
place in which to listen to the Word of Life with the thermom- 
eter high up in the "nineties." To do so is to put a severe and 
needless strain on the system, and many a constitution must have 
been seriously impaired through it. It is a true statement that 
the churches of this city, and indeed elsewhere, are not suitable 
for holding religious services during the months of June, July 
and August ; much less are they fitted for revival meetings, by 
which means the masses are chiefly reached. They have, there- 
fore, been mostly closed during the hot weather, and the regene- 
rate and unregenerate left pretty much to take care of themselves 
during that special season of the year. One cannot be surprised 
to learn — indeed, it is a natural consequence — that on the re-open- 
ing of the churches in the fall, the pastors are grieved to find a 
marked indifference and coolness on the part of then 1 flocks in 
regard to things spiritual. The first thing, then, to be done is to 
arouse the congregation from this sad state of mind, but, unfor- 
tunately, by the time this is accomplished, and a blessed fervor 
and holy atmosphere are attained, the long vacation again sets in. 
How can this missing link in what should be an endless chain of 
Christian activity be provided against? Are there no means 
whereby the end of the chain which drops in June and the end 
which is taken up in September can be successfully connected? 
Surely so, for it is impossible to be blind to the evil effects which 
are engendered by the present system, and we apprehend that 
any plan which provides an effectual remedy against them will be 



10 UNDER CANVAS. 

heartily welcomed both by the ambassadors of Christ and the 
children of God. 

We hesitate not to say that the desired remedy is to be found 
in the Gospel Tent. Under the airy canvas, as it lazily sways to 
and fro in the gentlest breeze, thousands and tens of thousands 
of people can be gathered during the hottest evenings of the year, 
who would never think of submitting their enfeebled frames to 
the stifling air to be found within four walls. 

There are very many advantages to which the Gospel Tent 
can justly lay claim. In addition to sustaining the religious 
interest of church-goers, it is also an inexpensive and effective 
means of reaching the masses. Poor people will readily venture 
into the novel and primitive tabernacle, who, for obvious reasons, 
would never think of taking their seats in one of the many elegant 
churches so thickly scattered in and around a large city like Sew 
York. There is an absence of restraint, a homelike feeling, a 
consciousness of equality, a knowledge that one is heartily wel- 
come to the seat occupied, to be experienced in the tent, which, 
somehow or other, seems to leave a favorable and lasting impres- 
sion upon those who come under canvas to hear God's proclama- 
tion of the Gospel of His Son Jesus Christ. 

Whilst we believe that the Gospel Tent is the only feasible 
plan for keeping up the interest of Christians in religious mat- 
ters during the summer, we do not for a moment say, or wish it 
to be inferred, that there are not other means of reaching non- 
church goers. For instance, open-air Gospel meetings cannot be 
too highly praised. Would that instead of a dozen or so having 
been held in different parts of New York City, during the past 
season, under the auspices of that excellent institution, the Young 
Men's Christian Association, there had been, at least, a thousand 
young men redeemed by grace, shouting forth at street corners 
the glad tidings of their salvation, and inviting all men to 
come and "take of the waters of life freely." Some of these 
meetings have been richly blest in the salvation of immortal 
souls, whilst the young soldiers of the Cross have themselves 
been quickened by the Holy Spirit, and strengthened in grace 
and boldness of speech. But yet, it must be admitted that the 
Gospel Tent possesses not a few advantages over the open-air 
services. The dust, the sun, the noise, the occasional shower, are 
all avoided, to say nothing of the great boon of seats, and the 
acoustic properties of the canvas. This last is of vast import- 
ance and cannot be overestimated. A still greater point has, 
however, to be mentioned, viz : the facilities of speaking private- 
ly to the anxious souls — an opportunity, the loss of which is 
sadly felt in the street meetings. Nevertheless, the spread and 
increase of open-air Gospel services cannot be otherwise than 



INTRODUCTORY. 11 

most joyfully and encouragingly hailed. If all the Christian 
young men of New York had but the courage to stand up for 
Jesus, their Master, and publicly announce to the thousands of 
perishing souls around them, that they had " found the pearl of 
greatest price," there would be the mightiest and most glorious 
revival ever witnessed since the death of our Saviour. 

If we can satisfactorily show, that by means of these canvas 
ediiices, the interest of the people can be successfully sustained 
during the summer, it will be found that upon the re-opening of 
the churches in the fall, there will be a strong and healthy feeling 
in their favor instead of, as hitherto, against them. 

But over and above this, are there any valid reasons why the 
children of God should practically forsake their calling, and 
neglect their imperative duty, of- winning souls to Christ during 
a particular season of the year ? No such reasons can be found 
in the "Word, nor is a dying soul of any less value in July than 
January. This Christian lethargy is a subject for profound sor- 
row, and we esteem it a high privilege to be permitted to give in 
this publication the record of a real and great summer revival, a 
thing regarded as almost, if not entirely, out of the question in 
this city; the record of a June, July, August and September 
campaign for the Lord, carried on under canvas, and resulting in 
the salvation of hundreds of souls; the record of a Gospel Tent 
in New York City, which held up its head month after month 
against the occasional storms of the elements, and the rare un- 
charitableness of a very few persons. Better still, it is the record 
of a tabernacle dedicated to the Lord, in which Christ and 
Christ crucified was held up alike by Episcopalians, Methodists, 
Presbyterians, Baptists, and other denominations. The salva- 
tion of lost sinners, and the quickening of God's people, were the 
sole objects of the work, and sectarianism found no platform on 
which to bicker or argue over dogmas or anything else capable of 
a difference of opinion or construction. 

At the conclusion of the great work carried on for many weeks 
in the Hippodrome, New York, by Messrs. Moody and Sankey, 
the Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, jr., D. D., commenced revival ser- 
vices in his Church of the Holy Trinity, situate in Madison 
avenue and Forty-second street, and they only came to an end 
when the heat gave warning to discontinue them in the month of 
June last. Previous to their close, however, workmen were 
busily engaged in the erection of a mammoth tent on Thirty- 
fourth street, near Sixth avenue, for use during the summer. The 
originator of this novel enterprise was the Eector of the Church 
of the Holy Trinity, whose portrait our readers will find at the 
commencement of this volume. 

The Evening Post of June 7, 1876, in noticing the subject, 



12 UNDER CANVAS. 

said : " The tent is intended to afford opportunity for worship 
" and instruction not only to the resident population of the city, 
" but to strangers who will visit us during the centennial smn- 
"mer, and will doubtless prove a valuable aid to Christian 
" work during the hot months, when so many of the churches of 
" the city are closed. The Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, jr., will con- 
" duct the services, and be assisted in the preaching by other 
" clergymen. It is expected that a distinguished English clergy- 
" man, the. Rev. Wm. S. Rainsford, of Norwich, England, will 
" make an evangelistic visit to this country and be heard in this 
" tent." 

If the secular press did not materially assist the enterprise 
after it came into operation, it must be confessed it was very ex- 
tensively advertised, and that too without cost, by the New York 
papers, previous to the dedicatory service. From a large number 
of encouraging and friendly notices we select the following 
editorial article from the Tribune of June 9th, to which we call 
attention : 

" The Rev. Dr. Tyng, jr., whether he is to be classed among his 
Episcopal brethren as Low, High, or High and Dry, is a gentle- 
man of great activity in the ministry, and of infinite resources. 
The Church of the Holy Trinity, of which he is the rector, 
remains in the regular diocese, while it maintains a diocese of its 
own. It is quite ready to adopt whatever methods of the " sects " 
it may deem useful in the dissemination of the gospel, even as 
Dr. Tyng, jr., is ready, or has been, to preach in any hospitable 
pulpit. Its last device is the erection on Thirty-fourth St., near 
Sixth ave., of what is called a Gospel Tent, large enough to 
accommodate a congregation of nearly 3,000 persons ; and here 
during the summer the prayers and preaching will be free to all 
comers. Dr. Tyng, jr., will conduct the services according, we 
presume, to such ritual as to him may seem most desirable, and 
it is intimated that Mr. Rainsford, an English clergyman, will 
assist. Whether these proceedings of Dr. Tyng, jr., will com- 
mend themselves to the bishop of the diocese is a matter, we 
fancy, of small importance to the rector of the Holy Trinity or to 
his parishioners. The Doctor may or may not become again 
liable to a public and official reprimand, but his fear of ecclesias- 
tical discipline is so limited that he will probably be left severely 
alone. The Bishop of New- York is the wisest of men, and there 
will be no martyrdom within his jurisdiction while it can possibly 
be avoided. If Dr. Potter had been Archbishop of Canterbury 
when John and Charles Wesley betook themselves to preaching 
in the fields and churchyards, it is doubtful whether there would 
ever have been any Methodist church, though there might have 
been a great many Methodists within the church itself. 



INTRODUCTORY. 13 

"Considering the matter from a non-ecclesiastical point of view, 
we may safely wish Dr. Tyng, jr., and his co-laborers a fruitful 
season in their Thirty-fourth st. pavilion. There is little danger 
of over-preaching and praying within the precincts of the Metro- 
politan Police. It is hardly enough for the tepid good-naturedly 
to admit that the energetic evangelist can do no harm, for the 
truth is that it is hardly possible for him to fail of doing much 
good. Certainly, if the erring will not come to the church, the 
church must go to the erring. There are those to whom as a 
matter of taste all " irregular " proceedings are disagreeable, and 
who see no need of putting up a " Gospel Tent " in Thirty-fourth 
st. or anywhere else. They have their doubts of the efficacy of 
camp-meetings or of "revival" services — they prefer to meet 
within the four walls and below the roof of a consecrated edifice, 
or, at any rate, under its protecting shadow. They should 
remember, however, that these extra-mural services are as old as 
Christianity itself. The very first Christian preaching was field 
preaching, and the first worship of our faith was celebrated in the 
highways and byways. If Dr. Tyng, jr., should be so fortunate 
as to make any converts in his tent, as he probably will, a portion 
of them at least will go over with him to the Holy Trinity when 
the tent is struck next autumn ; and if the remainder should 
drift into what precisians contemptuously call " meeting houses," 
we hope that no harm will come of it. Better there on Sunday 
than in some places which we might mention, or in some which 
are unmentionable. The most prosperous churches are those 
which find something for every earnest man to do in the vine- 
yard ; and it is always disheartening to see the very men turned 
adrift who should be most earnestly entreated to stay. This is a 
secular opinion, but it may be a sound one nevertheless. So all 
good success to Dr. Tyng, jr., and his tent ! " 

The tent was circular in form, one hundred feet in diameter, 
and forty-five feet high at the grand central pole, which was sur- 
mounted by a large flag inscribed with the words " The Gospel 
Tent" in red letters on a white ground, and the immense spread 
of canvas in the daytime presented a pleasing appearance, and at 
night when illuminated within it was most picturesque. A corona 
of 80 gas burners, suspended from the centre pole, shed ample light 
to the farthest parts of the building, the platform being additionally 
lighted with burners at either side of the speaker's desk. The 
flooring was of wood, to which continuous parallel rows of plain 
deal chairs were nailed, and the approaches to the platform — two 
central and two side aisles — were covered with matting. The 
platform was raised three feet and accommodated 105 persons, and 
was reserved for the speakers, Christian workers and the choir. 
The seating capacity of the tent was 1,350, but with the help of 



14: UNDER CANVAS. 

camp stools, and a smaller tent erected to the eastward (forming 
a transept) used as the inquiry room, upwards of 2,000 people 
were enabled to take part in the services. It may here be men- 
tioned that Sunday after Sunday during the hottest part of the 
summer the accommodation was wholly inadequate, and crowds of 
people, estimated at from two to three thousand, were disappoint- 
ed in getting inside the tabernacle, whilst the churches in and 
around the neighborhood, if not closed, (as most of them were), 
had but a sprinkling of a hundred or so as a congregation. This 
fact speaks for itself, and bears out our assertion that the churches 
not being suitable for public worship in extreme hot weather, it is 
out of the question to expect the public to attend them in any 
numbers. 

The total expense of purchasing and erecting this summer 
edifice was considerably under $2,000, and, as it will last for seve- 
ral years to come, the Gospel Tent may be considered the cheap- 
est means of public worship yet discovered. 

With regard to the mode of conducting the services, there is 
nothing of greater importance than the singing. An efficient 
and volunteer choir may be said to accomplish greater things even 
than the speakers, provided the singing be purely an act of wor- 
ship. Fifty to sixty voices, with an organ accompaniment under 
the directorship of Mr. Theodore E. Perkins, did their best 
during the eighteen weeks revival to lead the congregations in 
devotional praise, and though it cannot be said that the choir was 
well trained, or that the singing was very good, yet this part of 
the services was, on the whole, successfully performed. 

It has already been stated that the work was purely undenom- 
inational, and in consequence thereof the cooperation of the 
clergy generally was most hearty and unselfish. The pastor of 
the Fourth Presbyterian Church (the Rev. Joseph P. Kerr) which 
is situate directly opposite the site of the tent, at once promised 
his aid and sympathy on behalf of the new undertaking, and he 
faithfully and generously fulfilled the promise. So great were 
the crowds that came to the tent that overflow meetings had to 
be held in his church on many occasions, and on the last of these 
the Pev. Dr. Tyng, jr., took the opportunity of returning thanks 
to Mr. Kerr and the trustees for their unparalleled (in his expe- 
rience of fifteen years) act of Christianity. The Pev. J. S. 
Kennard of the Thirty-third street Baptist Church (a short dis- 
tance from the summer tabernacle) preached in the tent on the 
5th of September, and said on his return to town after the 
summer vacation, he was gratified to find that many members of 
his church had been attending the tent services, and had been 
greatly blessed thereby, and were now ready and anxious to com- 
mence earnest work for the winter. Mr, Kennard delivered a 



INTRODUCTORY. 15 



powerful address on the words, " What shall I do, then, with 
Jesus, which is called Christ ? " and for his hire received precious 
souls, the inquiry room being well attended, and the all-important 
question of the text was satisfactorily answered by several per- 
sons. 

The only public opposition or deprecation of the enterprise 
was sounded at a conference of Methodist ministers when a cer- 
tain member of that body read a paper which was not merely 
condemnatory of the Moody and Sankey revivals, but it also con- 
tained the most reckless and sweeping statements regarding the 
tent services, which were, in this gentleman's opinion, mere clap- 
trap and excitement with the view of cheaply earning popularity. 
His personalities were likewise in bad taste and offensive, and the 
whole incident would be unworthy of notice were it not our priv- 
ilege and pleasure to state that the most generous and successful 
support during the summer revival was rendered by members of 
the Methodist denomination. 

The Rev. William Lloyd, of the Washington Square M. E. 
Church, occupied the platform no less than six times and delivered 
practical and powerful sermons to crowded congregations. The 
conversions were numerous, and selected discourses will be found 
in extenso in this volume. The Rev. Wm. P. Abbott, of the 
Forty-first street M. E. Church, preached' in the tent on the 30th 
of June, selecting as his subject the old, well-worn, but ever-touch- 
ing parable of the Prodigal Son, and the Holy Spirit carried the 
message home to the hearts of several wanderers from a Father's 
love, and one young man who was converted on this occasion is 
now working in the Lord's vineyard. 

The Rev. Joseph Odell, late of England, now pastor of the 
Park Avenue Methodist Church, Brooklyn, spoke on jive even- 
ings during the month of August to average attendances of 1,400 
persons, and his sermons preached on the 11th and 18th of that 
month will be found elsewhere. His discourses were very help- 
ful to Christians, and many souls were awarded him by the Lord 
for his labors. 

On the 16th of August the Rev. G-eo. Lamb, president of the 
Primitive Methodist Conference of England, preached from the 
text, " Wherefore He is able to save them to the uttermost that 
come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make interces- 
sion for them " (Hebrews vii. 25). Mr. Lamb said he could say 
with the angels, " Behold ! I bring to you glad tidings of great 
joy," and especially to sinners did he wish to address himself. 
Jesus Christ in all His holy purity had sacrificed Himself for all 
mankind, and He was willing to save sinners at all times. He 
was interceding with the Father and saying, " Spare them a 
little longer, and they shall be brought into the fold. I will pro- 



16 UNDER CANVAS. 

vide a Gospel text, and send my servants to preach My Word." 

The living water of life is present with us, blessed be God, and 

the vilest might plunge in : 

In my hands no price I bring, 
Simply to Thy cross I cling. 

Mr. Lamb was supported by the Rev. W. Bee, (Toronto, Cana- 
da) ; Rev. Dr. Armitage, (who learnedly expounded the vii. 
chapter of Hebrews) ; Revs. G. Buchanan, W. S. Rainsford and 
other clergymen, and the entire service was one of enjoyment 
and power, notwithstanding the heat was intense. Fully 1 ,500 
persons were present. In addition to those already mentioned, 
the Revs. G. E. Reed and John Parker, pastors of Methodist 
churches in Brooklyn, delivered sermons in connection with the 
tent services, and we have thus shown how hearty was the sup- 
port received from this denomination in the Lord's cause. 

The Rev. ¥m. S. Rainsford, B.A. (of Cambridge University, 
England) came to the United States in June last, on evangelical 
work, and commenced his labors in the Gospel Tent, on Sunday, 
the 2d of July, and his sermon on that occasion is fully reported. 
He preached his farewell address on the 8th of October, having, 
in the meantime, occupied the attention of the tent congregations 
on forty-five evenings. From fifty to sixty thousand people 
heard the able speaking of this young clergyman of the Church 
of England, and his popularity and success were unquestionable. 
Mr. Henry Varley, in a letter written from London to Mr. 
Charles Hopkins, 120 Broadway, New York, speaking of him, 
says : " My conviction is that the hand of the Lord is with him, 
and I expect to hear that his association with Dr. Tyng will 
prove very helpful in establishing young Christians, and further 
extending the Redeemer's kingdom." We content ourselves 
with saying, that Brother Yarley's prognostications were fully 
verified, and refer the reader to the selected discourses of Mr. 
Rainsford, which we publish in this volume. His first and last 
sermons, with two others, are given, and if they are blessed to 
souls as much in the reading as in the delivery, this book will not 
have been issued in vain. 

We must now speak of the part taken by the originator of 
the movement in its summer work. The tent was opened for 
worship on Sunday, the 11th of June, 1876, and the Rev. Ste- 
phen H. Tyng, jr., D.D., preached the dedicatory sermon, which 
will be found specially interesting, as it deals with tent' wor- 
ship historically. The text was very appropriate to the occasion, 
viz : " Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and 
the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." (Exodus xl., 35). 
The public press estimated the attendance on the first night at 
over 6,000 people, not more than 2,000, however, of whom were 



INTRODUCTORY. 17 

able to take part in the service. The closing services were held 
on Sunday, October the 15th, and Dr. Ty ng, as was proper, took 
the leading part in bringing to an end the eighteen weeks con- 
tinuous revival. Altogether, he preached on twenty-eight occa- 
sions, and it is almost unnecessary to say he always secured 
large congregations. His preaching is also sO well known, that 
nothing need be said with regard to it, beyond stating that a 
selection from so many discourses, all of which were excellent, 
was a difficult matter, but care and judgment were exercised to 
the end that diversity of truths might be set forth. 

The Baptists were represented in the work by the Rev. J. 
D. Herr, of the Central Baptist Church, the Rev. H. G. Fish, D. 
D., of the Baptist Church, Newark, and the Rev. L. G. Barrett, of 
the Berean Baptist Church, and sermons by Messrs. Herr and 
Barrett are published. The Presbyterians also materially helped, 
and we give discourses delivered in the tent by the Rev. Robert 
Russell Booth, D.D., of the University Place Presbyterian Church, 
and the Rev. Dana M.Walcott, of the First Presbyterian Church, 
Rutherford Park, New Jersey. 

Among the other clergymen who took a working part in the 
revival may be mentioned Wm. Ormiston, D. D. (Dutch Re- 
formed Church, New York), Reuben JefTery, D. D. (Brooklyn), 
C. C. Tiffany, (Church of the Atonement), Thomas Gallaudet, 
(St. Ann's Free Church and Manager of the School for Deaf 
Mutes, New York), J. W. Bonham, (Church Evangelist), 
Charles F. Deems, D. D., (Church of the Strangers), R. H. 
McKim, (Harlem Church), George H. Hep worth, (Church of the 
Disciples) and very many others who assisted in the prayer 
meetings which succeeded the regular services. These after- 
meetings are of the first importance in all evangelistic work, and 
in this instance were mainly under the charge of the Rev. Wil- 
liam Humpstone, Assistant Minister to Dr. Tyng, jr. They 
were much blessed, and it was found that from fifteen to twenty 
minutes was quite long enough for such meetings, and that short 
prayers should be the chief act of devotion. 

With only one exception the importance of duly qualified 
ministers to address the people was recognized. The exception 
was on the 9th of August when Mr. John O. Bache delivered 
an interesting discourse on the words " And Pharoah said unto 
Jacob, how old art thou ? " (Genesis xlvii., 8.) He said that 
age in the natural life was distinct from age in the spiritual. It 
is often found that a child who has been trained in the Sunday 
school or the church, possesses more growth in the knowledge of 
things of Jesus than the man whose hair is grey or even white ; 
the one is growing day by day, whilst the other is dwarfing, 
withering, dying. In the natural life men grow when they sleep, 



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but in the spiritual only as they feed on God's word. The 
address was blessed to the salvation of souls. 

In closing this chapter, it is right to say that the sermons 
which follow are not to be taken as representative of the ministers 
in their own pulpits, but simply as suited to the mixed congrega- 
tions which gathered under canvas, and delivered for a special 
purpose, viz. : the salvation of lost sinners. Each sermon has 
also been contributed without regard to the other contents of 
this book, and each contributor is responsible only for his own 
sermon. 

The paper on the Brooklyn Y. M. C. A. Gospel Tent is con- 
tributed by Mr. A. S. Emmons, a member of the Executive Com- 
mittee, and will be found very interesting. Tne sermon which 
follows that chapter was delivered in connection with the Brooklyn 
tent revival. 

Mr. ¥m. P. Griffiths furnished the data for a report of the 
other Brooklyn tent, where much good work for the Lord was 
accomplished by a few earnest young men. All honor to them. 

The inquiry room work of the New York tent was very im 
portant, and is dealt with in a separate chapter, and we shall have 
a few words to say as to the general result of these movements in 
the concluding chapter. 



CHAPTER II. 



TENT WORSHIP 



DEDICATORY SERMON BY THE REV. STEPHEN H. TYNG, JR., D.D., IN THE 
GOSPEL TENT, ON SUNDAY EYENXNG, JUNE 11, 1876. 



"A cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord 
filled the tabernacle."— Exod. xl, 34. 

Tent worship is not a novelty. It is as old as the Ten Com- 
mandments. In the same interview with God when Moses 
received the law that since has bound all life, God showed 
him a miniature of the things which He would have con- 
structed as the place of His own abiding, and the prophecy of the 
coming of His Son. Until this temporary rest at the foot of 
Sinai, the worship of Israel had been without local associations. 
Each man, at the beginning, was the priest of his own house ; then 
the elder son succeeded to the office. When Aaron was chosen 
as the priest of the people, the family teachers and leaders yield- 
ed their appointment to him and his sons. This was the ordi- 
nance of God which was in force during the wanderings in the 
wilderness, and until David divided the priesthood into its 
twenty -four courses. The first places of worship were the groves, 
the open plain, or the private tent. But now, the people, having 
received a definite commandment from God enjoining a distinct 
form of worship, needed a sanctuary which might serve also as a 
symbol of that which was afterwards to become their common 
experience. The first commandment of the ten defined the God 
before whom they were to bow ; the second of the laws forbade 
the false worship of Egypt from which they had been delivered ; 
the third spoke of the spirit, and the fourth of the minimum o f 
time to be given to worship. These composed the first table of 
the law, and gave national worship its earliest rules. 



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To meet this new condition of the religious life of Israel, God 
commanded the construction of a tent. It stood in the midst of 
the camp, and its every detail had been both divinely designed 
and figured. This old tabernacle was borne with reverence by 
Levites through all the journeys of Israel, until they entered 
their land of promise. It rested for a time in Shiloh, until David 
was moved to construct a dwelling place for the Lord of Israel. 
The voice of Nathan, the prophet, brought the command which 
restrained the psalmist king from the fulfillment of his desire : 
" Go and tell my servant David, thus saith the Lord, shalt thou 
build me an house for me to dwell in ? Whereas I have not 
dwelt in any house, since the time that I brought up the children 
of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a 
tent and in a tabernacle. * * * Now, therefore, so shalt 
thou say unto my servant David, thus saith the Lord of hosts, I 
took thee from the sheep cote, from following the sheep, to be 
ruler over my people, over Israel : * * * and when thy days 
be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up 
thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I 
will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for my 
name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever." 
During his life-time, David prepared for the erection of the per- 
manent place of worship. He laid tribute upon all the wealth of 
the surrounding country, and gathered the materials to which 
Solomon afterwards gave finished form. So long was the life of 
the tent of Israel. It was regarded with peculiar reverence by 
the people, was reserved to the priests alone, and in its inner 
shrine was never entered save by the High Priest, and by him 
only on one day of the year. Its furniture presented a series of 
object lessons, leading the minds of the spiritual Israel to the 
promise given to the fathers, of a victorious Redeemer. In the 
fulness of time Jesus came, the great ante-type of all these early 
figures. 

We no longer need such a tent as Israel reverenced, for 
the tabernacle of God, in the person of His Son, is still with 
man. Ours is a day of access with boldness to the throne 
of grace. The very atmosphere is freighted with spiritual 
freedom and blessing. In memory of the work which 
Jesus accomplished, and of the worship which His words 
warrant, we set up our tent. It does not prefigure, but it 
preaches the truth. It answers to the old tent of Israel as 
an echo, whilst in the midst between the two stand the life and 
the work of Christ, fulfilling the demands of the old dispensation, 
and sending down with redoubled eloquence the voice of God in 
His law and love to us. That which the deed is to a contract, is 
our tent to the old tabernacle of the host. In the latter God 



TENT WORSHIP. 21 

prophesied rest ; in the former we receive and declare the certi- 
ficate of its bestowal, through the person and the work of Jesus. 
If you go into the Patent Office at Washington, you will see 
thousands of miniature models, each representing a possible com- 
bination of power in the industry of the people. Not one of 
them has in itself anything of effective energy. Each teaches that 
which shall be ; and when in the large the lines of the small are 
re-produced, and the suggestions of use in the model become active 
in that which it prefigures, the purpose of the pattern is made 
plain, and the inventive thought which gave it birth is justified. 
So stand the types of the tabernacle in reference to the work 
of Jesus in the flesh. So stands our tent, as a memorial of the 
redemption that is in Christ, to the figures of the true. Or, to 
take another illustration — as the type of the printer is related to 
the letter on the page, so does Jesus' word and redeeming life 
answer to the shadows which God showed Moses in the mount. 

The text presents three such types, and over against them sug- 
gests three corresponding truths ; and whilst we meet for memori- 
al worship under canvas, it will be greatly good for us to recall 
those early symbols, and search in the Gospel for their corres- 
ponding substance. 

I. First of all, let us fill our fancy with these three types. It 
is not without significance that we have pitched our tent beneath 
the shadow of a Jewish synagogue. Within a stone's throw of 
the place from which I speak, the Israel of God, in its scattered, 
confounded condition, still worship the God of their fathers. 
Not knowing Him of whom Moses and the prophets did write, 
they look in a blind and curious way for the coming of the Mes- 
siah. They have their ark and their rolls of the law, but the 
fire no longer smokes on their altar, and their priesthood has, by 
their own confession, passed away. The tabernacle and the 
temple have disappeared, and all of the Jewish worship that is 
left, is the synagogue of later appointment and use. And yet 
there it stands, the representative of the old dispensation, when 
God in sign language spoke to man. By its side we lift this tent 
towards heaven, as the answer of the New to the Old ; that 
which they know in part we know in completeness ; that which 
they desire, we possess. Him, for whose appearing their hope is 
scanning the horizon, we worship at every opportunity of con- 
templation and general communion. The types are represented 
for us by the synagogue, and the truths answer their challenge 
from the tent. 

I. Of the three types contained in our text, the tabernacle 
stands as the representation of the person of God manifest in the 
flesh. It was the symbol of Christ Jesus dwelling in reconciled 
love among His people. It is so represented in various Scriptures, 



22 UNDER CANVAS. 

of which but one construction is possible. John writes, in the 
first chapter, at the 14th verse : " And the word was made flesh, 
and tabernacled among us, and we beheld his glory." The Word 
was none other than Jesus Christ, and His coming in the likeness 
of our humanity is recognized by the apostle as the fulfillment 
of the prophecy of the old tabernacle. In similar phrase, the 
apostle writes to the Hebrews, 8th chapter and 2d verse, concern- 
ing " The true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man." 
And again in the 9th chapter and the 11th verse, he speaks of 
" Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a 
greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is 
to say, not of this building ; " and the glorious reappearance of 
the Lord Jesus as King of His redeemed people is foretold by 
John in Revelation, as " the tabernacle of God with men." 

Beyond the mere external aspect and adaptation of the 
tabernacle, we are permitted by the Word of God to search for 
somewhat of the Christ in every detail of its appointment. It 
was a temporary construction, easily taken down, knowing no per- 
manence, and as such it presented the redeeming work of Christ 
in its relation to His eternal kingdom. It was divided into two 
parts ; the portion nearest the entrance was called the holy place ; 
the enclosure beyond was known as the holiest of all. Between 
these two apartments hung a heavy veil of woven work. Above 
this veil, and between the peak of the tent and the upper line on 
which the veil was hung, the tabernacle was open, so that the in- 
accessible light, which shone above the mercy seat, brightened the 
outer portion of the tent. This veil is identified by the apostle, 
in Hebrews x : 20, as the fiesh, the body of the Son of Man 
and God. The two portions presented, therefore, the two natures 
of the one Christ. The human and the divine had each its sym- 
bol, and yet they formed but one tabernacle. Just outside the 
tabernacle stood the brazen altar, upon which all the sacrifices 
were presented. Here, morning and evening, the lamb that was 
slain prophesied the Lamb of God that was to come. The wor- 
shipper, represented by the priest, (for he had no standing in the 
holy place himself) must pass by the blood of the altar before he 
could enter into the tabernacle itself. Only by His sacrifice can 
the person of Christ become comprehensible to the believer. It 
is through blood that we learn the secret things of the Son of 
Man. As soon as the entrance of the tabernacle had been passed, 
the priest, representing the people, came to the brazen laver, and 
then, beyond this, on either side, to the table of shew bread, and 
the golden candlestick, with its seven branches, whilst just before 
him stood the golden altar of incense, against and yet outside the 
veil. So faith recognizes " the washing of water by the word " 
(Ep'h. v : 26) ; the " bread of heaven," and the " light that 



TENT WORSHIP. 23 

lighteth every man that cometh into the world," in these f eatures 
of the tabernacle's furniture. The altar of incense presents the 
Great Advocate's office effective, because He Himself, in His 
humanity, was tempted like as we are. All these phrases of 
" cleansing," " illuminating," " sustaining," " intercession," have 
intimate connection with the human nature of Christ the Lord. 
On the great Day of Atonement, with blood from the brazen 
altar, and with censer and smoking incense, the high priest 
solemnly entered the curtains which concealed the holiest of all, 
whilst the people were gathered without the tabernacle, in 
solemn penitence and prayer. Now did the glory of God de- 
scend, as the ark and the mercy-seat were sprinkled with the 
sacrificial blood. Within the sacred sanctuary God had ordered 
Moses to place only the ark of the covenant, surmounted by the 
mercy seat, and enclosing the tables of the law. The ark was 
the resting place of the commandments, and the mouth of the law 
was shut by the mercy-seat, whilst upon this union of law and 
love stood the golden cherubim, with outstretched wings, from 
Adam's day till ours symbols of reconciliation between God and 
man. In Christ the law has its completeness. As of the ark, so 
truly say we of Him, "there was nothing in the ark save the two 
tables of stone." His life and work, spotless in purity, perfect in 
righteousness, absolute in beneficence, are the antitype of that 
which was hidden behind the veil. All these are the influence of 
the Divine nature of Christ. These combined and collected arti- 
cles of furniture presented in themselves and their relations the 
two-fold person in the one manifestation of the Son of God. It 
would not be difficult to trace through. Scripture a close fulfill- 
ment between the materials used, the appearance of each, and the 
uses of all the parts of the tabernacle and the work of Jesus. 
Christ is all in the old tabernacle, and is to be all in the new 
tent. He is the object of all sorts of faith. He is the only one 
to be remembered and worshipped. The penitent presents him- 
self before a redeeming Christ; the believer feeds upon a 
sustaining Christ ; the joyous child of God receives com- 
fort from an illuminating Christ ; and he who has at- 
tained the highest approach to God still knows naught of 
His glory save as it is reflected in the face of Jesus Christ. One 
of our young Christians, who had been rescued from the dark- 
ness of superstition, just before her death, when, after the usage 
of her former people, the priest had placed a lighted candle at 
each end of her bed, and was about to administer the last offices of 
his church, waived her hand towards the candle and said : " Take 
that candle away ; they have no need of the candle, for the Lord 
God and the Lamb are the light thereof." For her, symbols were 
an impertinence, in her realization of the true substance. And I 



24 UNDER CANVAS. 

have heard of another in similar connection with the same reli- 
gious community, who bitterly complained at the loss of her 
favorite crucifix, which she had hung upon the walls of her oratory : 
" O, I have lost my crucifix ! I have nothing but the cross left." 
Blessed is the experience of that believer who, through crucifix 
or through cross, through altar, through laver, through candle- 
stick, through altar of incense, through mercy-seat, through ark, 
through cherubim, sees Jesus only ! 

2. The second of the three types alluded to in the text is the 
pillar of cloud which preceded Israel in all their journeys through 
the wilderness. It was given on the banks of the Red Sea, 
and became their constant companion by day and by night, 
until they entered into the land of rest. The personal 
and providential presence of their covenant Lord was so 
intimately associated with this symbol, that Moses, in history, 
hesitates not to say (Exodus xiii: 21, 22), " And the Lord went 
before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way ; 
and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light ; to go by day 
and night. He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor 
the pillar of fire by night, from before the people." The same 
gracious privilege of the people is recorded by Nehemiah, 9th 
chap., 12th and 19th verses, in the Levites' prayer at the solemn 
fast appointed on the return of the children of Israel from their 
captivity in Babylon : " Moreover thou leddest them in the day 
by a cloudy pillar, and in the night by a pillar of fire, to give 
them light in the way wherein they should go. * * * Yet 
thou in thy manifold mercies forsookedst them not in the wilder- 
ness : the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to 
lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to 
show them light, and the way wherein they should go." This 
early type is recognized and identified by the apostle Paul in 
his 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, 10th chap. 1st verse. " More- 
over, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that 
all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the 
sea ; and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the 
sea." It is manifest from these Scriptures and from many others 
of like tenor, that the cloud taught the people the providential 
presence and care of their covenant God. It preceded them in 
every stage of their journey, and marked the place upon which the 
tabernacle was to be erected, and when the curtains were hung, 
the furniture rightly disposed, and the covering of the tent, with 
the badger-skins and the goat hair dyed red, was completed, then 
the cloud rested upon the tabernacle. So long as it quietly and 
mysteriously abode above the tent, the wanderings of the people 
were interrupted, and they were permitted to enjoy a season of 
temporary quiet and rest ; but at the bidding of the cloud, 



TEXT WORSHIP. 25 

whether in storm or shine, in sorrow or peace, though they had 
I) ut just closed the graves of those nearest to them in the flesh, 
they were compelled to renew their march. " If the cloud were 
not" taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was 
taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by 
day, and fire was on it by night, in the sight of all the house of 
Israel, throughout all their journeys." So did the people learn a 
life of trust. They were beckoned on toward the land of 
promise by this figure of the hand of God. The mystery of 
Providence, and its protection, were well represented in the 
mist of the cloud and the brightness of the fire. The assurance 
of such oversight and such overruling defense was a comfort to 
Israel, and confusion to their pursuers ; for, as in the escape 
through the Red Sea, that which led Israel to rest brought the 
ruin of the hosts of Egypt. So does the providence of God work 
out both the weal of those who trust Him and the woe of those 
who oppose His law and love. 

The life of the Lord Jesus Christ was not without its relation 
to the providence of God. Though by Him all things consisted, 
though upon His shoulders the government was placed, though 
He preserved all things by the word of His power, yet in His 
condescension as the tabernacle of God with men, the cloud still 
guided His life. It was at the enrollment which certified the 
passing away of the sceptre from Judah, that His parents, having 
been led by the pillar of cloud, returned to their tribal city, and 
here the days of her waiting were accomplished, and Mary the 
Virgin received from God a child. The escape from the anger 
of Herod into Egypt, and the return at the death of the persecu- 
tor to the land of Israel, were equally timed by the overruling 
providence of God. So through dangers of every sort, as when 
they sought to cast Him headlong from the rock at Nazareth, or 
when they strove to make Him king at Jerusalem, did Providence 
as the pillar of cloud guide the true tabernacle to Golgotha 
and into the rest that remaineth in glory. The apostle is very 
distinct in his confession of this fact, when he testifies of Christ 
to the multitude gathered at Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost : 
" Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowl- 
edge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified 
and slain ; whom God hath raised up, having loosed the 
pains of death, because it was not possible that he 
should be holden of it." And now faith beholds the Christ in 
the heavenly places, still both God and man, preserved until at 
the leading of the cloud, He shall return to resume His residence 
and reign upon the earth that He hath redeemed by blood and 
shall rescue by power. Even so over the living Christ, in the 
progress of the Church, which is His dwelling-place, does the 



26 UNDER CANVAS. 

cloud abide. Every particular Christian, each body of believ- 
ers, and the whole company of the faithful throughout the ages, 
and the world, must testify to the sweetness of the leadings, the 
strength of the support, the deliverauce from difficulties, which 
have been wrought by the God of the cloud. It is His hand 
which hath brought us to this place. We believe that we rightly 
interpret His will when we set up this tent. The pillar of cloud 
marked the resting-place for our tabernacle; and it is good 
for us, whilst sitting in the rest thus secured and entering into the 
worship thus permitted, to recall and recount the personal obliga- 
tions we owe to the providence of God, and to testify of all the 
way which He hath led this company of His believing children 
through these many years. Perhaps it would be well to spend a 
season in silence, that each might meditate upon his own life. 
Such recollection of the many interpositions of God in all our 
lives would surely educate our simplicity and constancy of trust 
in His promise of power and protection through coming days. 
But at least, as for the time the leader of this people, I may give 
glory, in their name, to the God that dwelt in the cloud. Each 
step in the progress of the Church of the Holy Trinity, and in 
the development of its peculiar work has been marked by a new 
sign of the will of our great guiding God. From a little hand- 
full we have become a great host. Surely goodness and mercy 
have followed us through all these years, and strength and wisdom 
have been our guides. Whilst we enter now upon a new stage of 
active evangelistic effort, in this memorial tent, we look for our 
warrant in our peculiar work, and for our defence whilst sur- 
rounded by dangers, to the cloud that covers the tent. Whilst it 
rests upon us, let the tabernacle stand. When it shall be remov- 
ed, let the people bow to its will and follow where it leads. 

3. The third type suggested in this text is The glory of the 
Lord which filled the tabernacle. Over the outstretched wings of 
the cherubim, which shadowed the mercy-seat upon the ark of the 
covenant, rested, as on the throne, the shekinah of the God of the 
covenant. There was no light from without, to relieve the dark- 
ness of the holiest of all. The sanctuary of God's presence was 
brightened only by His own indwelling, whilst over the tent shone 
out somewhat of the glory which in its excess of light was hidden 
by the veil. Only the high priest ever saw the shekinah, and he 
not without blood. After Moses talked with God in the mount, 
we read that his face did so shine that the people were afraid to 
look upon him. He caught somewhat of the glory in the act of 
communion with the covenant God. And again in Jesus' face, 
when on the mount of transfiguration with His chosen disciples, 
the glory of God shone with a brilliance above the noon-day sun. 
The shepherds on Bethlehem plain beheld, in the darkness of the 



TENT WORSHIP. 27 

night, this same glory, when Christ was born, for " Lo ! the angel 
of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone 
round about them." Always in the New Testament is the shek- 
inah presented as connected with the person of Christ. The 
apostle, writing in his second epistle to the Corinthians, 4th chap, 
and 6th verse, declares : " God, who commanded the light to 
shine out of darkness, hath sinned in our hearts, to give the light 
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." 
And again, in the 3d chap, and 18th verse of the same epistle : 
" But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of 
the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even 
as by the spirit of the Lord." In the three accounts of his conver- 
sion given by Saint Paul, the same statement is made of the glory 
which outshone the noon-day sun, and which preceded the utter- 
ance of the Lord : "lam Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou perse- 
cutest." Surely, in these latter days of privilege, taught by these 
many scriptures, we may look up, and, in the language of Moses' 
prayer, cry : " Show me thy glory !" Christian faith aspires to a 
more thorough knowledge of the God who crowns with His 
presence the mercy-seat and the law. So soon as any soul learns 
of God as He is in the reconciliation wrought and preached by 
Jesus Christ, there is to him no darkness at all. Out of despair 
into hope, out of doubt into assurance, out of fear into confidence, 
through the grace of the Lord Jesus, is he introduced as from 
darkness into marvellous light. O that the glory of the Lord 
would fill this tabernacle ! Let this be our prayer, and this, in a 
clear exposition of His word, our purpose. If He be not here, in 
vain shall every teacher speak. Without Him we can do nothing. 
If blind eyes are to see the light, if deaf ears are to hear the joy- 
ful sound, if limping lives are to be made obedient to His ex- 
ample, then the great healer and helper and hope of Israel must 
depart not from the tabernacle. 

It is not enough, dear friends, that we erect our tent as a 
memorial of that tabernacle which represented the person and 
work of Jesus our Lord. It does not suffice that the cloud of His 
providence rests upon us in our present work. Yain will our 
preparation prove, fruitless our efforts, disappointed will be our 
hearts, unless the glory of the Lord shall fill the tabernacle. 

II. At the opening of this address I proposed for your con- 
sideration three truths, which corresponded to these three types, 
and in parallel statement I have already tried to present them by 
way of instruction. Like rays of light converging in one centre, 
the focus of all truth is the person and work of Christ. Him of 
whom Moses and the prophets did write, we have found, and of 
Him our testimony must be most explicit and plain. But now 
that we enter upon this great work, which is to be continued 



28 UNDER CANVAS. 

through the burden and heat of summer days, may I not turn 
these truths from their doctrinal statement and give them more 
practical form. Let no one here depreciate the difficulties which 
are before us. It has been held as a settled rule for many years 
in this community that Christian work must needs be suspended 
during the summer months. Many of our churches are necessarily 
closed, and a large portion of our population is transferred to the 
country districts. But the mass of the people of this great city 
know no such absence. The temptations to indifference and 
godlessness on the Sabbath day, and still more on the evenings 
of the week, are multiplied an hundred fold. To expect men to 
resist these, to renounce their unbelief, and to return obediently 
to their Redeemer and God, without the presence and power 
of the Spirit of God, is to look for an impossibility. Whilst, there- 
fore, we do not undervalue the adverse influences which we are to 
encounter, we look unto the hills from whence cometh our help. 
Our confidence is in the condescending residence of God 
the Holy Ghost. We honor Him as present when we yield 
ourselves as co-workers in the salvation of men, and we count 
upon ,His influence as surely as upon the law of gravitation, or 
upon the circulation of the blood. This is our confidence, and in 
the name of this Lord we set up the banner of the Gospel Tent. 
Taught and supported by the Spirit, let me exhort you, first, 
to watch Providence. Look to the cloud which covers the tent. 
An old writer has well said, that he who watches Providence will 
always have a Providence to watch. God does not sequester 
Himself from His people. It is recorded of John Baptist that, 
from the day of his birth until his martyrdom, at Herodias' re- 
quest, " the hand of the Lord was with him." The statement is 
equally true in every life. But there are special assurances given 
to the believer, upon which he may most implicitly rely. The 
farmer prophecies by the look of the cloud, the character of the 
coming day. On all our large buildings signals predict the ad- 
vancing storm. Men in all lower interests learn encouragement 
or prudence from things that do appear, and the Christian, taught 
by the Word of God, should study the things that happen, that he 
may know the will of Him that ruleth. It would be vain to 
attempt to review the remarkable illustrations in our history as 
His people, exhibiting the nearness and fidelity of the cloud. 
Sufficient is it to associate this event with the hand of God. After 
we had determined to erect a tabernacle for summer worship, we 
could find in the whole length and breadth of the city from Cen- 
tral Park to the Battery but three possible locations. We de- 
manded a space of ground which, in so crowded a community, is 
scarcely to be found. We needed to be near the converging lines 
of railway, that our tabernacle might be accessible to all classes 



TENT WORSHIP. 29 

and conditions of our citizens, and we determined, if possible, to 
so conduct the work that some part of the gathered results might, 
when the fall should come, find a permanent abiding place in 
local and neighboring churches. Of these three spots of ground 
this was our first choice ; but the application was made by letter ; 
it was impossible for us to communicate with its owner in 
person. The letter was accompanied with much prayer on 
the part of the brethren. At our daily services in the church 
scarcely ever have I heard in our midst more real and importunate 
pleading for guidance. And the Lord has answered by the cloud. 
We have to-day to thank Him for the way He has opened before 
us, and for the site He has selected for the resting-place of the 
tent. At the s'ame time we couple with our thanks to 
Almighty God, our acknowledgments to the dear saint, who, in 
her age and nearness to glory, has still most generously and 
sympathetically entered into our plans. We have the use of 
these lots by the donation of our friends who have been thus in- 
fluenced through grace and Providence, as long as we require 
them for this service, without money and without price. Surely 
this hath the cloud wrought. Our neighbors of the synagogue 
have been most cordial in the offer of every assistance within 
their power, and the pastors of evangelical churches within 
the near neighborhood of the tent have kindly consented to aid us 
in our work. Thus led and sustained by Providence, we shall re- 
main for work and worship as long as the cloud covers the tent. 
And now, dear brethren, as we enter upon the work, cease not 
day nor night to pray for guidance from the God that answereth 
by the cloud and by fire, for strength from Him who ruleth over 
all, for protection in the dangers of storm and tempest, and, sur- 
rounded by the malice of unreasonable men, from Him who is 
able to say, Peace, be still ! Perfect assurance is the key to 
effective effort in Christ's work. Just as that little child was 
comforted in the rocking boat, so are we to be kept in peace, 
whatsoever may be the difficulties before us. Those with her in 
danger asked what was the secret of her composure ? and with 
simplicity did she answer their curious cavils by the one confession : 
" Father's at the helm ! " The direction and the discipline of a 
covenant God brings to us absolute rest in our work. Look then, 
I say again, to the cloud, and submit to its leadings. 

Exalt the work of Jesus. This is our peculiar and present 
work. O that His glory might fill the tent ! In prayer confess, 
in song adore, in sermon expound the nature of Him who alone is 
excellent : His qualifications for the great offices which on man's 
behalf he assumed, the fulfillment of those offices through weari- 
ness and want and the bitterness of death, the great salvation He 
has accomplished by the shedding of His own blood, and the ex* 



30 UNDER CANVAS. 

altation He has attained at the throne, to be a Prince and Saviour, 
and finally the glorious promise of His coming again to be the 
King of saints and the glory of Israel ! Let not one voice in all 
this vast congregation be silent when the honor of Jesus is at 
stake. To-night I lift Him up, evidently set forth, crucified 
among you. The tent is without glory until His name is known 
and magnified. Who will accept Him as His Saviour to-night ? 
Who will receive within the tabernacle of his body the light of 
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ ? Who will begin 
from this good hour to cling to Him who is able to make the joys 
of earth and the things of time seem tawdry enough, and scatter 
the shades of darkness which overhang the grave, and bring life 
and immortality to light through His gospel. O say, some one, 
say of even the shekinah which rests upon the mercy-seat : It 
is the halo about the head of my Redeemer. He is mine and I 
am His. The dedication of the tent is the hour of my surrender 
to His service ! 

Have fellowship with God. One of the names given to the 
tabernacle of Israel, by Moses, was " The tent of the congrega- 
tion." And yet we have already seen that no individual but 
those connected with the priestly families ever entered its pre- 
cincts. How, then, was it the tent of the congregation, if the 
people stood without ? It was doubtless so called because the 
meeting- place of God and the sinner, is Christ. It opened the 
privilege of fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus 
Christ. Not duty, but delight, drew Joshua, that young man 
who departed not from the tabernacle ; and it is our right under 
the warrant of the word of God to receive in our tabernacle, 
which memorializes Christ, the influences of the Father and the 
Holy Ghost, so full of blessing and so needful in work. Dear 
Christians, walk with God beneath the tent ; sit in heavenly 
places here with Christ Jesus ; stand up in the liberty wherewith 
He hath made you free ; associate with this tent not only labor 
for the souls of others, but growth in the divine life, education in 
the things of grace and God. 

And, oh, that those among us who know Him not might 
this night find a meeting-place between God and their souls in 
the person of Christ ! Oh, that they might make the acquain- 
tance of God this night, and be at peace ! A friend in a distant 
city was much concerned in the salvation of his brother, who 
lived in a far-off place, and under the impulse of his desire wrote 
and sent a telegram containing these few words : " Dear brother, 
prepare to meet thy God ! " Midway between the two points, 
that evening, there sat at his instrument in a connecting office, a 
young man much burdened with a sense of sin, and yet strug- 
gling to cast off the serious impressions he had received. He was 



TENT WORSHIP. 31 

at his post of duty, receiving and forwarding the messages which 
came by the wire. On a sudden his ear was arrested by the 
click of the instrument, which conveyed to him the 
message that was on its way to another. He was startled 
and profoundly disturbed, for the words seemed to 
him a message coming from above, as he detected the distinct- 
ness of the sounds of the unseen messenger repeating, " Brother, 
prepare to meet thy God ! " The exhortation intended for one 
had reached two. God, who doeth all things well, so used the 
message as to bring the telegraph operator into the peace of God, 
through Jesus Christ his Lord. This is what I mean by fellow- 
ship, dear sinner, with God. Meet Him you must in the last 
great day ; meet Him you may in this most gracious hour. 
May God give you grace to enter this night into an eternal fel- 
lowship with Jesus your Saviour. 

So we dedicate this memorial tent. May the cloud cover it, 
and may the glory of the Lord till the tabernacle in which the 
truth as it is in Jesus shall be freely, faithfully, fully proclaimed. 
And oh ! that each one of us might this night dedicate the taber- 
nacle of his body, which the Lord hath showed us must shortly 
be put off, to the service of Him who alone can cleanse, control 
and consecrate it. Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this 
tabernacle, to stir you up, by putting you in remembrance of this 
great privilege and obligation. I beseech you, brethren, by the 
mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice 
unto the Lord, which is your reasonable service. So, as by the 
tabernacle of old, shall Providence, in the tent of to-day mould 
your lives, the shekinah brighten your influence, and Jesus the 
Master daily become more precious. To Him, to His work, to 
His praise, to His glory, world without end, let us rise and sanc- 
tify the tent, and separate ourselves. 



CHAPTER III. 



THE LOST SHEEP SOUGHT AND FOUND. 



SERMON BY THE REV. ROBERT RUSSELL BOOTH, D.D., OF UNIVERSITY 
PLACE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, ON THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 1876. 



"And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing."— Lake xv., 5. 

These words are taken from one of the most touching and in- 
structive of our Saviour's parables. It was near the close of His 
public ministry, and a great company had assembled to hear Him. 
They stood around Him in two groups or circles. Close at hand 
were all the publicans and sinners. Needy, disreputable and self- 
condemned, they came to Him who had a look of kindness and a 
hand of help for such as they, and who had often healed the 
broken-hearted by a word, or sent the sighing mourner singing to 
his home. And more remote, but near enough to see and hear, 
the Scribes and Pharisees were grouped together, wonder- 
ing what the man of Nazareth would say, and watching for 
an opportunity to criticize His teaching. Proud, self-suffi- 
cient, separate in station and in feeling from the com- 
mon people, they gazed with scornful eyes upon that eager 
throng that pressed upon the Son of God. It was a strange and 
a revolting sight to them. A man professing to be sent from God 
standirig complacently in the midst of such a company ! A holy 
Prophet speaking kindly and compassionately to such miserable 
wretches ! What could it mean ? How could such infinite in- 
congruity of conduct and profession be explained? "This man 
receiveth sinners and eateth with them." This was their com- 
ment on the scene before them. It was enough to condemn 
Christ in their eyes, that he should keep such company and be 
interested in their welfare. In answer to this sneer of the exclu- 
sive Pharisees, the gracious Saviour spoke three parables by which 



THE LOST SPIEEP SOUGHT AND POUND. 33 

He set before them a vindication of His conduct, and of the claims 
of these publicans and sinners to divine compassion. In all these 
parables — that of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Prodigal 
Son — one idea is introduced, which is the natural sentiment of 
tenderness and concern which is awakened in the human heart by 
the peril or the loss of any precious thing. In all of them man is 
represented as being lost, and God as a loser and a seeker be- 
cause of his desire to save him. The contrast between the pride 
and scorn exhibited by these self-righteous Pharisees, and the 
long-suffering and gentleness of God towards the erring, is none 
the less forcibly presented, because the different scenes are set be- 
fore them without comment. It was enough for Christ to tell 
them how God feels towards the lost. The simple statement was 
the sternest condemnation of their attitude. 

But turning from the circumstances in which these parables 
originated, it is our present interest to dwell upon the truth which 
they present. Running, as we have seen, through all, it seems to 
come out in the clearest and most touching form in the expression 
of the text. Remember that the point to be illustrated is God's 
feeling towards sinners and His treatment of them when they are 
wandering from Him. In the reception of the Prodigal we have 
a picture of the welcome which awaits the lost one as he comes 
from the far country of a sinful life to seek the shelter of his 
long forsaken home. But for us to realize how God regards the 
sinful soul and what He does to save it, requires that we should 
mark the lessons taught, as in the story of the lost sheep, and by 
the shepherd's search to find it, and his joy when it is found. To 
impress these truths upon your hearts to-night, I shall ask you to 
consider the different points connected with the parable as they 
are related to the climax in the text — "When he hath found it 
he layeth it on his shoulders rejoicing." And 

First. — Behold the picture of the lost and wandering sheep. 
One of the hundred which compose a shepherd's flock has strayed 
away and is no longer found within the fold. Wandering in its 
helplessness among the dangers of the wilderness, certain to 
perish miserably in a little while, it comes to be an object of 
solicitude not merely from its own intrinsic value, but also from 
the perils which surround it. Now, our minds grasp at once all 
that is involved in the condition of the sheep thus lost, and we 
can readily appreciate the anxiety of the shepherd to recover it. 
But when we turn from the figure to the spiritual truth which it 
illustrates, the case is not so clear. Our lost natural condition is 
one of the essential themes of Christianity, and yet it is one on 
which it is most difficult to write or speak with wisdom and dis- 
cretion. " It is so easy," in the words of another, " to misstate 
the case and press the charges in a form to which the conscience 



34 UNDER CANVAS. 

makes little or no response. There is a way of vilifying human 
nature and depreciating all its qualities down to so low a level, 
that the greatness of the loss vanishes from the mind, for there 
remains practically very little to be saved." Now it is certain, 
that the words of Christ authorize no such contempt of the 
humanity whose lost condition He proclaims. Far be it from us 
to seek in any way to lessen the guilt of man's transgression or the 
doom which sin has brought upon him. Only let us keep con- 
tinually before us the equally important truth, that there is 
value, priceless value, in this fallen nature, and that until the 
last glimmer of the day of grace has left it, it is a treasure which 
God longs to rescue and of which his grace can make a jewel 
worthy of the Saviour's crown. 

But what then is the true point and meaning of this word 
" lost," when used in reference to man ? How are we like the 
wandering sheep presented in this parable ? The pertinence of 
the resemblance lies in this — that in the exercise of our self-will, 
we have departed from the use and joy of life for which we were 
created — have sought a wider range — a freedom from divine 
control, and by the impulse of this wrong desire are led from 
day to day away from our true life and rest, and onward towards 
the outer darkness. 

The sheep is lost when it has gone outside the shepherd's fold 
and turns towards the wilderness, and man is lost when he re- 
jects his portion in the love of God, and seeks his satisfaction in 
the transient good of earth. Through the wide universe it must 
be true forever, that for a spiritual being to choose to be inde- 
dependent of his God and King is to be lost. I do not see that 
there is any mitigation of the evil of this state in the fact that it 
originates in some far-off occurrence — in the transmission of a 
tendency to wander, through the ancestral ties which link each son 
of Adam to his sin in Eden. The fact, in personal experience, is 
the great point to be regarded. However brought about, we are 
estranged from God — have lost His favor, His covenant protec- 
tion, our birth-right of eternal happiness. Whatever placed us 
in the road we travel, it is a road which leads us to the wilderness. 
The path on which we walk is one that tends straight to the outer 
darkness and the endless doom. Nothing less than such a peril 
would justify this word which Jesus uses to proclaim it. Fall- 
ing from His lips, it tells us of no common woe. The saddest 
word we ever speak, concerning earthly interests, it is much more 
emphatic when it points to the danger of the soul. Like the cry 
that bursts forth from the prison, when men are captives doomed 
to death — like the dirge which rises from the sea, when the waves 
hurl a shattered ship upon the shore — like the wail that breaks 
the stillness of the night, when men are wandering helpless in the 



THE LOST SHEEP SOUGHT AND FOUND. 35 

storm — so does this warning of the tender voice of Jesus proclaim 
the peril of a sinful world. Though they are prisoners of hope, 
with space before them for repentance — though the last issue of 
their wandering has not yet been reached, — yet seeing how be- 
wildered and helpless they are in themselves, and knowing the 
certain issue of their crime if help — Divine — is not extended, the 
Saviour throws the pathos of His infinite compassion into the 
tone which speaks the peril of the world. That precious thing — 
the soul of man — is lost ! 

Second. — We mark the fact which is presented next. The 
shepherd seeks the wandering sheep. I know of nothing in the 
range of speech more graphic, or better fitted to the case in hand, 
than the words in which Jesus brings the truth of His desire 
to save the lost, before these haughty Pharisees. " If he lose 
one of them, doth he not leave the ninety and nine in the wil- 
derness, and' go after that which is lost until he find it V Here in 
a figure is the history of redemption — from its beginning in 
the eternal purpose, to its fulfillment at the ascension of the Lord 
to glory. The shepherd's search for the lost one of his flock is the 
Redeemer's wonderful interposition in behalf of man. How does 
the shepherd seek ? First of all, in counting up the flock, he 
misses one. It is but one among so many, and yet he values it, 
and is resolved to seek it. And then, turning his back upon the 
well-known pastures, he goes forth looking on every side for foot- 
prints, listening for the faintest cry as he pushes his way through 
tangled thickets and along the rocky glens, enduring willingly 
the weary march under the burning sun, and pressing onward as 
the night begins to fall. It is a toilsome search, costing him 
more than the mere value of the sheep, but he will find and save 
it if he can, because it is a member of his flock, whose name he 
knows and who was used to follow him in other days. Oh, 
brethren, what an unfolding of the love of Christ lies in this 
picture ! To trace it fully would be too great a task this evening. 

To understand it fully, or to answer all the questions which 
the analogy suggests, would be beyond our finite powers. Why 
did He care to seek at all for man's recovery ? Was such a 
world as ours' important to Him who saw the vastness of creation, 
and heard the ceaseless song of heaven's worshippers ? How could 
He leave His lofty throne and condescend to this poor province of 
His kingdom ? How could the God-head seek and suffer in the 
search ? How soon we go beyond our depth in the philosophy of 
man's redemption. A thousand questions meet us, which we 
must defer until we see the Heavenly Shepherd face to face, and 
have the intellectual power to comprehend His answers. But 
now it is eno ugh to take the facts, and let them teach our wan- 
dering minds the love of God — that wondrous search of love. It 



36 UNDER CANVAS. 

is still traceable by men. Its points of suffering are clearly 
marked upon the surface of the earth. In Bethlehem and 
Nazareth — by the Jordan and by Jacob's well, by the slopes of 
Hermon and the Sea of Galilee, in Bethany and in Gethsemane, 
in Pilate's Hall, and on the Mount of Passion — we trace the 
bleeding feet ; we watch the patient seeker ; we hear the call of 
one who loved us with an everlasting love. But, do you say: All 
that was wrought for man in his humanity ; how can I realize the 
personal relation of that search ? How can I feel that I, among 
so many, are missed and sought for as an individual in my wan- 
derings ? Then think of this — that all that was done by Christ 
for our humanity at large, was really done for every individual 
who shares in the ruin of the fall- — and that to His infinite dis- 
cernment, no single one is out of sight. 

The search which Jesus carried on amid the toils and suffer- 
ings of His incarnation brought Him into direct connection with 
the lost estate of every son of Adam, and by providing the indis- 
pensible conditions of a rescue has made each one of us its ob- 
ject as truly as if each lay perishing alone out in the wilder- 
ness, and heard the Shepherd calling us by name, and saw Him 
struggling on His weary way to save us. Does not the voice of 
conscience testify this personal relation to the seeking Saviour ? 
Can you divest yourself of the impression that Christ has a claim 
upon your attention and regard by the propitiation which He 
made for sin ? and by the call which He sends forth to all the 
weary and the lost ? And when the Holy Spirit's voice — the still 
small voice — is heard within you, does it not point directly to the 
atoning Lamb of God and bid you cast the burden of your guilt 
and fears on Him who bore your sins in His own body on the 
tree ? Oh, no, my hearers, you cannot doubt that in the ministry 
of love Divine you have a personal concern, and that what the 
Saviour shepherd sought, and is still seeking, is the rescue and 
salvation of your soul. 

Think of it, think of it ! oh, ye wandering ones to-day, amid 
the thickets where you are hiding from the presence of the 
Lord, amid the toil and care for earthly trifles, which make you 
forgetful of the " one thing needful." Amid the strife of 
tongues, and the contention of the world which sounds so loud 
around you, there is a voice of love which calls you, oh, how 
tenderly ! — there is an eye of pity that marks your wandering 
steps — there is a pierced hand that is stretched out to help you 
to return to God. Christ is a seeking Saviour, and if you perish 
it will be because you wilfully refuse His aid. Let it not be so. 
I entreat you to place yourself this night in the way of His ap- 
proach. As you are lying torn and bleeding in the wilderness, 
make some motion towards His helping hand, send forth a cry of 



THE LOST SHEEP SOUGHT AND FOUND. 37 

prayer that He may be attracted to your side. Be willing to be 
saved by Him, and you will find Him very near and full of mercy 
to your soul. This brings us to the climax of the parable. 

Third. The shepherd finds the wandering sheep and treats it 
with the utmost tenderness and love. " When he hath found it, 
he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing." Here is a picture of 
salvation in a single line. As we are wont to scan the separate 
words of telegraphic messages and seek their utmost mean- 
ing from those few signs which have been sent to convey im- 
portant tidings, so here in this despatch from Jesus 10 our souls, 
we find the weightest matter compressed into a dozen words. 
Think for a moment what might have been expected at this point 
in the parable. Anger at such perverseness as the wanderer had 
shown, reproaches for the weary toil incurred in finding it, a rude 
and heavy hand laid on the sheep to draw it from the thicket, and 
an impatient push to start it in the homeward journey — such would 
have seemed the natural treatment in a case like this. Such was 
indeed the spirit of "the Pharisees and Scribes towards all publi- 
cans and sinners — and such is the treatment which lost men in- 
stinctively expect when they first come in contact with the Grospel. 
But there is nothing like this in the scene presented here. The 
shepherd overtakes the sheep at last, but speaks no word of anger, 
nor does his face look a reproach for straying ; he sees it lying 
torn and bleeding there before him, and his only thought is one of 
gladness that it is found at last, and of anxiety to get it safely 
home. And yet more — not only does he spare reproaches, but 
he is most compassionate toward its weakness. He takes it up 
w T ith tenderness and lays it on his shoulder and bears it back 
along the way by which it wandered from the fold. And blend- 
ing with all this, is the significance of the last word in the des- 
cription, " rejoicing." " He layeth it on his shoulder, rejoicing." 
This joy begins when he begins to save it. The burden of it 
does not weary him because it was the very purpose of his search 
to find the sheep and bring it home in safety. Do not wonder 
that I dwell thus upon the details of this description, for here, 
if anywhere, we have a clear delineation of the delights of God 
the Saviour in executing towari individuals the sublime and 
blessed object for which He was incarnate and died upon the 
cross. The truth which shines upon us through this simple illus- 
tration is one which is suited to our dark, distrustful thoughts 
about the love of Christ to sinners. It has been said with reason, 
that the highest test of civilization in a state, is- the way in which 
it deals with criminals. The tendency in all the world is to re- 
form and save by harsh inflictions, and men instinctively shrink 
back from Christ, for fear that the lash may be hidden in the 
hand which He extends. 'No doubt there is an element of dis- 



38 UNDER CANVAS. 

cipline in all His healthful dealings with the souls of men, but 
the great truth is, that He is a cheerful giver. He loves to save 
and He finds greater joy in lifting one of us and carrying our 
weight upon the homeward journey, than we can feel in resting 
it upon Him. Let your imagination work upon this picture, to 
whatever length you will, you will not find it possible to go be- 
yond the grand proportions and exquisite beauty of the doctrine 
it contains. It is a joy to Christ to save a soul, and when He 
finds one willing to be saved, His treatment of it is infinitely 
more than motherly in its compassion, and more than regal in its 
generous munificence. Bring all the symbols of the finest forms 
of human helpfulness — a love like that of Jonathan for David, a 
prescience like that of David for the youthful Solomon, a liberal- 
ity like that of Artaxerxes toward Queen Esther, a watchfulness 
like that of Paul for Timothy — what are they all compared with 
the welcome which the Saviour shepherd gives the sheep which 
He has found, and the care and patience and long suffering with 
which He leads it home to glory ? Oh, brethren, is not this the 
remembered experience of our hearts as we look back to the 
hole of the pit from which we were taken, or to the deep waters 
from which we were drawn. Have we forgotten how Jesus 
treated us when He passed by our place of peril. Have we 
forgotten the incidents of our journey past, where, in so many 
scenes of trouble, in so many impulses of worldly passion, He 
tightened the everlasting arms about us, and lifted us when we 
were about to fall. Whatever else has disappointed our expec- 
tations, or failed us in the hour of need, the love of Christ has 
never failed — His patience never wearied — His pity never turned 
to anger — His help never been withheld, and now, to-day, in spite 
of all that waywardness which we confess and mourn, it is our 
highest joy that in this troublous world, amid the conflicts and 
temptations of our pilgrim life, we have a refuge in the care 
of such a Shepherd, and can anticipate in each event of life, 
that He who has promised that " He will never leave us, or 
forsake us," will keep His promise until the flight of time shall 
bring us home to heaven. Is this our faith and hope in Him ? 
Then let these ties be fully realized, and let His love constrain us 
to abide in Him, and give Him praise and service while we live. 

But if the experience of some thus witnesses the fullness of 
the redeeming love of Jesus, there are others here to-night whom 
He is seeking still, but who up to this hour are lost. 

Oh, my friends, what strange infatuation keeps you in such 
danger, unrest and darkness when He is passing by ? "What 
reason is there to hinder you from being rescued when help is 
near at hand % Is the friendship of the world better than the love 
of God the Saviour ? Are the dust heaps which you are strug- 



THE LOST SHEEP SOUGHT AND FOUND. 39 

gling for, to be compared with the immortal glory ? Is life so 
long, is death so far away, is your own strength so firm that you 
can safely hide yourself from Jesus ? He seeks you now ; He 
has been seeking long, but all that He has done will not avail 
unless you will accept His aid. Your longing and purpose to be 
saved must join with His willingness to save you. He waits 
for tins. Oh, that it might be your choice this night. There 
would be joy in Heaven for this; joy and thanksgiving that the 
seeking Saviour had once more returned, saying, " rejoice with 
me, for I have found my sheep which was lost." 



CHAPTER, IV. 



INDECISION. 



SERMON B¥ THE REV. WM. IXOYD, OF THE WASHINGTON SQUARE M, E. 
CHURCH, ON FRIDAY, JUNE 16, 1876. 



" How long halt ye between two opinions ? if the Lord be God, follow Him: 
but if Baal, then follow him." — 1 Kings xviii: 21. 

" As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, 
there shall not be dew nor rain these years but according to my 
word." 

Such was the terrible malediction which pealed like thunder 
from the lips of the prophet of fire upon the ears of Ahab, 
Israel's wicked king. Long had Ahab insulted Jehovah — his 
groves, the scenes of lewd idolatries ; Baal's image erected, and 
his worship celebrated openly, while the true God was as openly 
defied and dishonored. Then did Elijah appear, the fearless 
champion of the Lord of Hosts, and uttered the words just quoted. 
As the prophet spake, the words were heard in Heaven, and God 
said, Amen ! Not a word of reply does the king make, and the 
strange, stern man of God disappears as suddenly as he had ap- 
peared. Probably when the king returned to his palace, he would 
tell his infamous consort of the scene. She would rally him 
upon his fears, and stir him up to continued defiance of the God 
of Israel. As the sound of water plashing in the marble foun- 
tains in the palace yard falls upon his ear, and his eye catches the 
light clouds fleeing across the sky, he begins to doubt the pro- 
phet's words, and perhaps laughs at his former fears. But that 
night, the sun set in the west red and lurid, and its last rays flung 
upon the scene seemed angry and portentous. Morning broke 
and the heavens were clear, and the sun shone forth with more 
than wonted splendor. Day after day passed by, and the same 



INDECISION. 41 

unclouded heaven spans the land ; the same burning sun pours 
down its tropical rajs. Soon the fountains dry up in the palace 
yard, the mountain streams cease to tumble down the rocky 
gorges, the earth grows so dry that huge fissures appear as 
though nature had opened her parched lips for thirst. For three 
years and six months does the terrible drought continue ; the vin- 
tage dies upon the hillside, the labor of the olive fails, the cattle 
die upon the barren, grassless plain, gaunt famine with her greedy- 
eyed sister, pestilence, walks through the land, when suddenly the 
news is borne to the palace, " Elijah has come and calls for the 
king." Haughtily and unsubdued the monarch obeys the sum- 
mons. " Art thou he that troubleth Israel ?" asks the impious 
king of the prophet. But that eye quails not at the stern glance 
of the king. " I have not troubled Israel ; but thou, and thy 
father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the 
Lord, and thou hast followed Baalim." But he adds (as though 
he would say) I am not here to parley or discuss matters with you, 
I am here to execute a mission from the God whom I serve. 
" Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto llount 
Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and 
the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's 
table." 

The day of assembly arrives, and now, for a moment, imagine 
the vast assembly gathering. The flanks of the mountain teem 
with the living mass. As they gather from various parts, they 
pitch their tents upon the slopes of the hill and wait for the great 
controversy. We may divide that great concourse into three 
classes : First. — There are the hireling priests of Baal, and those 
who have daringly cast off their allegiance to Jehovah, and allied 
themselves with idolatry, fearing less the wrath of Almighty God 
than the anger of an earthly despot. These are loud in their 
shouts of honor to Baal, and vaunt confidently of victory. 2d. — 
There the f aithful few who, amid the darkness, have yet adhered 
to the Lord — who have refused to bow the knee to Baal. In 
them hope and fear alternate. They gather together and con- 
verse with anxious looks. Many a prayer goes up to God on be- 
half of Elijah; and as they see his calm and intrepid look, their 
faith grows strong. 3d. — And by much the more numerous class 
are those who are halting upon the subject, divided in opinion, 
hesitating upon which side to declare. With some lingering 
respect for the worship of their fathers, yet so swayed by self- 
interest, and governed by desire to be upon the popular side, and 
perhaps afraid of the king, they remain undecided. Elijah ap- 
pears ; — a deep hush falls upon the crowd ; — his eye flashing like 
an eagle from his native Gilead, sweeps over the people, and his 
voice rings out the challenge like a war-trumpet : " How long 



42 UNDER CANVAS. 

halt ye between two opinions ? if the Lord be God, follow Him ; 
but if Baal, then follow him." Into these three classes we may 
divide the Christian world. Those who in some way or other are 
bowing the knee to Baal — who have no respect for the Lord of 
Hosts — who openly disobey His laws, and, by their conduct, say : 
" Who is the Lord that I should fear Him ? " 2d. — We have 
those who are true worshippers of God — some of them weak in 
faith and may-be yet believers ; others who are like Elijah 
(though, alas ! there are few), who are arrayed boldly upon the side 
of holiness, and who will stand up for Jesus and His truth at all 
risks — men and women who dare to be singular for Christ's sake, 
to whom the fashions, honors, emoluments and pleasures of the 
world are as empty as a dream. 3d. — The great mass of the un- 
decided halters, trimmers, hovering upon the confines of the two 
kingdoms of light and darkness. They are often convicted ; have 
spells of reformation ; have what an old farmer once called an 
occasional good streak come over them, but in love with sin ; 
infatuatedwith the world, they wait for a more convenient season. 
These three classes are represented here to-night, and my ap- 
peal is directed to the latter class. If there are any of the first 
class before me, who have deliberately chosen death, I have nought 
to say to you to-night. To the faithful believers, those to whom 
the triumph of Jesus is dearer than life, to you I say, brethren 
and sisters, pray ; pray with an energy of faith beyond any you 
have hitherto put forth ; lay hold of God, — the Lord is God. Vic- 
tory will yet be declared on His side. Plead, then, that to-night 
some may be led to decision. And do you, O ! ye halters between 
two opinions , ye who desire to have a happy death but yet live 
a wicked life ; ye who have been convinced again and again, and 
have stifled those convictions, and to your pleading Saviour say, 
Not Yet ! To the Spirit, Not Yet ! Ye who mean to be Chris- 
tians but not yet, in the name of Jesus I put to you the solemn 
question of my text, and may God send it home to your heart, 
" How long halt ye between two opinions ? " 

1st. Indecision in religion is. " irrational." 

If you were to act in matters purely secular as you act in ref- 
erence to eternity, you would be regarded by your friends as 
almost destitute of reason. Decision of character is regarded as 
so important an element in worldly pursuits, that its absence is 
regarded as certainly productive of failure. No man can be suc- 
cessful as a merchant, an artist, a student, or in any sphere of 
life who lacks this important element. It is the backbone of 
life. How often do we hear it said of people, " Well, yes, he is 
a good fellow, he has plenty of ability, but some way he does not 
succeed." Why ? " Well, he has no decision." If an undecided man 
gets up the hill of life, he must be carried up like a baby ; he 



INDECISION. 43 

does not walk up like a man. If indecision is so fatal in secular 
life, if a man who is constantly halting is regarded as irrational 
in his conduct, how much more so is it in connection with so 
solemn, so eternally important a subject as religion ? Success in' 
any merely secular matter is important but for a few years. The 
wealth of the merchant, after being gained by years of toil and 
labor, which have undermined his health, paralyzed his faculties, 
and made life almost a burden, may suddenly take to itself wings, 
and like a scared eagle fly away. Or if not that, in a few days, 
death, which neither gold nor diamonds can bribe, will step in, 
and all that will remain of the rich man will be a cold, stiff 
form, a coffin, a hearse, a grave. The garlands of the artist, and 
the wealth of the student may soon be laid to wither on their 
tombs, but the subject we press upon you stretches unto the 
future, reaches into eternity. Indecision here may be fatal for 
ever. A failure here is a failure for ever. With only a few 
days in which to prepare for vast eternity, with interests at stake 
compared with which all that encircles your secular life is but as 
the unreal vision of a distempered brain ; with heaven or hell in 
the balance, " How long halt ye between two opinions? " 

2d. Because of the certainty of the issues involved. 

Many matters connected with our secular life are extremely 
uncertain, we being imperfect in knowledge and liable to error in 
judgment. The best conceived schemes may fail, and the man's 
failure, although painful, has no criminalty in it because issues 
arose which he could not foresee, and contingencies no decision 
could provide against. 

But there are certain issues connected with religion involved 
in decision or indecision for God, which, beyond contingency are 
absolutely certain. 

Death is certain. We do not realize this. Full of lusty 
life, death to most of us here seems almost a dream. Yet it is cer- 
tain that it is near to every one of us, and already his dark shadow 
is stealing over some of your brows. John saw, amid other vis- 
ions, one which makes the blood grow chill. " I looked," says 
he, " and behold a pale horse : and his name that sat on him was 
Death, and hell followed with him." That pale horseman has 
ridden down whole nations of the past and still he sits upon his 
tireless steed ! Sometimes the hoofs of that steed rattle down 
the pavements of our city streets, and as the morning breaks 
there is darkness in some homes. Sometimes he goes down to the 
water side and looks over gay faces. Hark ! there is a shriek, the 
cold water closes again and we hear the hoofs of the pale horse- 
man as he rides away. Through city, hamlet and town, this pale 
horse with his unwearied rider sweeps along. He has halted at 
some of your doors. You had a beautiful boy — O ! how you loved 



44 



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him — but one day an unseen horseman paused at your door and 
the form you held in your arms grew still. Soon he will smite 
you and me. 

Death is certain. Build yourself round with precautions as 
you will — defy death — tell him you are healthy and that the phy- 
sicians tell you there is not a trace of disease about you ; launch 
out in speculations, pull down your barns, and build greater ; go 
to the theatre and drive dull care away. But a breeze blows ; it 
fans your cheeks; it is laden with fever; and in a few days the pale 
rider will have ridden you down. 

You go to the lake or to the seaside, but he follows you there, 
and the waters fold themselves around you as a shroud. You go 
on the cars and we open the newspapers and read of an accident, 
a crash, a cry, and all is over. But if you escape all these, death 
is after you, and you must die. Death is certain. Judgment 
is certain. After death the judgment. We must all appear be- 
fore the judgment seat of Christ. As certainly as the sun rose 
and shone to-day, so certainly will the day come when it will set 
behind eternity. As certainly as the stars shine out in nightly 
splendor, looking like fixtures in the deep, blue vault, so cer- 
tainly will the day come when they shall drop from their orbits 
like untimely figs from the tree. And as certain as is this change 
in the material universe, so is the day of judgment. As certainly 
as you now sit in this place will you have to stand before the 
great white throne. 

Then will your future condition be fixed. Then will fall upon 
your ears the word " Come ye blessed," ana that word shall waft 
you to the golden city ; or, " Depart ye cursed," and that word 
shall hurl you from light to darkness, from life to undying 
death, from heaven to hell. 

" Beyond this vale of tears, there is a life above, 
" Unmeasured by the flight of years, and all that life is love. 
" There is a death whose pang outlasts the fleeting breath, 
" O ! what tremendous horrors hang around the second death." 

If you decide for God, that life with its tide of bliss, sweeping 
through unnumbered years, shall be yours. Oh ! my hearers, with 
such tremendous issues involved, with death on your track, judg- 
ment before your face, " How long halt ye between two opinions ? " 

3d. Indecision is perilous. 

Every day your opportunities for decision lessen. The prev- 
alent argument, or rather excuse for indecision, is something like 
this : " Oh ! there is time enough yet — I am young : there will 
be abundant opportunities for me to yield and get to heaven at 
last." O ! the multitudes who have thus trifled with their oppor- 
tunities until the last has presented itself, and, little thinking it 
was the last, they have let it slip by and thus perished. 



INDECISION. 45 

Far be it from me to attempt to place a limit to the Divine 
mercy, but I believe myriads of souls have been ruined by re- 
fusing to improve their opportunities of salvation — choosing to 
risk all upon such a flimsy thread as is contained in these lines : . 

" While the lamp holds out to burn, 
11 The vilest sinner may return." 

Oh, my hearers, I entreat you to decide now. God has said : 
" My spirit shall not always strive with man." 

" Your days are gliding swiftly by, 

Your heart though strong and brave, 
Like a muffled drum is beating, 
Funeral marches to the grave." 

Your last offer of mercy will be made ; the last ray of hope 
will soon fall upon your path, preparatory to bleakness and dark- 
ness forever. 

Again, every day your power to decide decreases. 

Indecision has a weakening, paralyzing effect. It is so in secu- 
lar matters, and still more so in religious. Constant hesitancy, 
repeated rejections of Christ paralyze the soul. The habit of 
rejecting and repelling divine influence grows stronger, and the 
will to yield is correspondingly weakened. There are gray-head- 
ed sinners to-day who would give all they possess for the power 
to yield to God which they felt they had in earlier days. 

While conducting special religious services in a city in the 
western part of this state, my attention was called to a man ap- 
parently past the meridian of life. I spoke to him concerning 
decision for God. His frame trembled with suppressed emotion. 
I urged him to accept Christ that night. He refused. Night 
after night he was present a deeply interested listener. Again 
and again did I beseech him to decide; but he answered, "I cannot. 
Years ago I wilfully rejected the Saviour, now I have no power 
to yield." The man was apparently spiritually paralyzed. Un- 
decided, careless soul, would I could fitly portray your peril. 

A sailor up in the rigging of a ship furling the sail while the 
storm cloud hangs ready to burst, and with but a moment to reach 
the deck, is not in a more perilous condition than you are. A 
man plucking a flower upon the edge of a precipice, with an ava- 
lanche crashing from its moorings overhead, is not in more dead- 
ly peril than you are. O ! sinner, halt no longer, escape for your 
life, decide for God. 

Lastly, indecision is delusive. No course of conduct is so 
stupifying to the soul as this waiting for a more convenient sea- 
son. It acts upon the soul as a narcotic upon the senses. What 
a delusion to suppose that at any future time you will be more 
likely to yield to God than you are now. By this fatal delusion 
has Satan ruined countless souls. An old divine has called pro- 



46 UNDER CANVAS. 

crastination " hell's recruiting officer." The coast of Cornwall in 
Britain is beset by sunken rocks, to strike upon which is sure de- 
struction to ship and crew. In a past generation, a race of reck- 
less men lived upon that coast, called wreckers. These, when the 
storm raged upon the sea, would build fires upon the 
cliffs, which the anxious storm-tossed mariner, mistaking 
for a friendly beacon light, steered for, and only discovered his error 
when the keel grated upon the jagged rock, and then the wild- 
est efforts were in vain. See yonder ship coming in. After a 
weary voyage she is nearly home. The hearts within beat high 
with hope. Night falls. The storm clouds which have swiftly 
gathered break in fury, and the ship drives before the wind. 
Light streams over the white-tipped waves. She makes for it. But 
alas ! it is the deadly wrecker's light. Soon the boom of the 
waves upon the rocks strikes upon their ears. Breakers ahead / 
peals out above the storm shriek. Hark ! She strikes, and a cry 
breaks from the souls upon the parting deck, " Too late! Too 
late /" 

O, my hearers, I want to bring you to a decision. If the Lord 
he God, follow Him. If Baal, then follow him. If you mean 
to respect Christ, be brave. If you mean to serve Him, be honest 
about it. Either reject God, or accept the mercy He offers you. 
"Will you go from this tent to your room, and taking pen and 
paper write, " I, this sixteenth day of June, after being urged to 
decide for God, after being striven with by the Spirit, have de- 
cided I will not yield. I will live as I list, I will go through life 
down to death, up to the judgment, if there be one, without 
Christ, and will take all the consequences." You dare not do it. 

Young man, young woman, by all that is dear to you in the 
past ; by the memories of early days ; by the memory of a 
mother's prayers — that mother now, it may be, a saint in glory — 
by all the vows made in sickness, or at the graves of your loved 
friends, or at the altar of God ; by all your hopes of the future, 
if you would not die and be buried in a Christless tomb, if you 
have any desire to escape perdition and find a home in heaven, 
I entreat you ; halt no longer ; decide for God now. 

Aged soul; let me appeal to you. An old man without 
Christ ! O, how sad. Your hair is white and thin, and your 
step totters on the edge of the grave. Soon the last sand will 
run out of your life. Lest death should come ere the great work 
is done, I entreat you ; decide now. 

I close the book. May the Holy Spirit to-night echo the 
appeal of my text, as again I cry : " How long halt ye between 
two opinions ? " 



CHAPTER V. 



SELF-CONDEMNATION. 



SERMON BY THE REV. STEPHEN H. TYNG, JR., D.D., ON SUNDAY, 

june 25, 1876. 



"And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men 
loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." — John iii., 19. 

During the past week, I received through the mail this postal 
card. On its back are written these words : " Dear Sir : — If 
Christ died for all men, how is it all men are not saved ? Is the 
so-called gospel you preach the gospel that saves, or the gospel 
that leads to perdition ?" This is a question that deserves and 
demands an intelligent answer. I pass by all the bad spirit which 
is couched under some of the words, and seek to-night to touch 
the core of this question, and to give a solution of that difficulty, 
which, if it has a place in one mind, may also perplex others. 

That Christ Jesus died for all men, is the constant testi- 
mony of this word of God. The apostle writes to the 
Hebrews, " Jesus Christ tasted death for every man." To 
the Corinthians he declares, " Christ died for all men ; " and 
to the Romans he is exceedingly explicit, for in the 5th chapter, 
and at the 6th, 7th, 8th and 10th verses, he cumulates his 
description of the classes for whom Christ died. Christ died for 
the " ungodly ;" Christ died for " sinners ;" " when we 
were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of His 
Son." "Without strength," are the persons for whom Christ 
died. You must prove a man not to be a man to take him 
out of the compass of the death of Christ. You have need to show 
that a man has strength of himself before you can demonstrate 
that he is not included in the work of Jesus Christ. You must 



48 UNDER CANVAS. 

vindicate the godliness of a man without Christ, before you can 
put him beyond the long arm of the Saviour's redeeming grace. 
You must show that a man is naturally a friend of God, before 
you can cast him out from the compass of the gospel. This death 
of Christ is said, in the Scriptures, to have accomplished an abso- 
lute salvation. So Paul writes to Timothy : " It is a faithful 
saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Jesus Christ came into 
the world to save sinners ;" and to the Thessalonians he says, in 
very explicit words, that the death of Christ has " delivered us 
from the wrath to come." Now, good friends, there is no 
possibility of exaggerating the freeness and the fullness of 
the death of Christ in, relation to mankind and to the promises 
of God which are based upon it, and yet, the teachings of 
the Scriptures are equally plain in the declaration that all men 
are not saved. The apostle Jude, in the 13th verse, speaks 
of some "to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness 
forever." They are not saved. In this very chapter, we 
have the declaration, " He that believeth not the Son shall 
not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him," and, 
indeed, the context of this passage is perfectly clear, when it 
declares, " He that believeth not is condemned already, because 
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son." 

Here are two statements that seem to be contradictory. One 
declares that Christ died for all men, and yet the same book 
testifies that all men are not saved. This text of ours is the con- 
necting link which brings these two classes of statements into 
perfect harmony. " This is the condemnation, that light is come 
into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because 
their deeds were evil." Adam, in the first chapters of the book 
of Genesis, is said to have been placed in the garden under pro- 
bation. The terms of the probation were : " This do, this do 
not." He was forbidden to eat of certain fruit on pain of ever 
lasting death, and the warning was, " In the day thou eatest thereof 
thou shalt surely die." In that condition Christ found this race of 
ours, and by His obedience to the letter of the law, and His 
endurance of the penalty of the law, He restored man to a new 
probation. Every man born into the world is not only lost through 
Adam, but saved through Jesus Christ. The terms of this new 
probation before God are now not " this do and live," but u De- 
lie ve on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." This is 
the theology that I gather from God's word. " This is the condem- 
nation, that light has come into the world and men loved darkness 
rather than light, because their deeds were evil." Let us suppose 
a very faint illustration of what the Lord Jesus Christ has done, 
and see whither it leads us. We are standing by the side of a 
river. A man has fallen into the water, has sunk twice and is 



SELF-CONDEMNATION. 49 

now sinking the third time. So far as all human probability 
and laws are concerned, the man is dead. Suddenly one on the 
shore plunges in, and by the sacrifice of his own life rescues the 
drowning man. He is brought to the bank of the river in an un- 
conscious condition. Those who are skillful a*nd tender apply 
restoratives to bring him to his full senses. A long time elapses 
before the man opens his eyes in wonder, and then immediately 
closes them again in unconsciousness. He still remains on 
the bank, and, after another hour has passed, he has a lucid 
interval of longer duration, and then he goes off into unconscious- 
ness for the second time. By and by, through the appliances and 
attentions and efforts of those who are working upon him, he 
comes to full consciousness, and he asks what all this means ? 
They tell him that he was in the water and was drowned. He says : 
" How is that ? My eyes are opened and my senses are all with 
me." But they say : " Do you believe the fact on the testimony 
of those who know ? " "Yes, I do ; I believe that I was drowned, 
but how came I to be here ? " They tell him, " this man plunged 
in and pulled you out, at the sacrifice of his own life." The man 
is saved, and he who gave his life for his rescue, is his saviour, 
even unto death. " But," the man says, " this was my greatest 
enemy ; I will have nothing to do with the work that he has 
done," and so he plunges into the water again. He was saved ; 
he is lost. He was saved, all the time he was unconscious, and 
the enjoyment of his salvation would have begun with his con- 
sciousness, but, as soon as he became conscious of the glorious fact 
• of his rescue, his heart told him to rebel against the instrument 
which had accomplished it, and he plunged into the tide, and is 
again drowned. That which is here illustrated very superficially, 
is realized in the work of Jesus Christ. Every man and 
woman to whom I speak to-night, was lost, is saved, may be lost 
again. " This is the condemnation, that light is come into the 
world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their 
deeds were evil." Do men love darkness, or light ? Do they 
submit, or do they rebel against Jesus Christ ? 

I. To show this truth more clearly, let us turn to our text, and 
see, first, that axl light comes from cheist. " Light is come into 
the world." Indeed, light is a key-word of the Scriptures. It 
is that spiritual knowledge which is not the same as the know- 
ledge of the head. A man may be a learned philosopher, and 
yet be in darkness so far as all spiritual truth is concerned. There 
may be light in the outer court ; there may be light in the holy 
place, and yet the holiest of all may be blank darkness. There 
may be every sort of knowledge, of invention, of practical wis- 
dom in each one of you, and yet, unless this light from Christ 
has shone upon you, you are in darkness even until now. Spiritual 



50 UNDER CANVAS. 

knowledge is light, and all this comes from Christ. Perhaps I 
speak to-night to some who are Freemasons. If I do, I can give 
a simple illustration of this truth, which I am sure will have 
force with them. To those who are not craftsmen, let me say, 
that in the centre of every Masonic Lodge stands an altar, and 
upon that altar is laid this book, with other insignia of the fra- 
ternity. This holy Bible is recognized as the Great Light of 
Masonry. The brethren in the Lodge sit around the room, and 
every face is turned toward the great light. No one 
is permitted to be so seated as to turn his back to- 
ward the light. All the light even there comes from 
the great light on the altar. The whole mystery, every 
confidential fact, every symbolism of Masonry is to be gathered 
from this great light. Even so in the fellowship of the gospel, 
the great light is the source of light, and that light is on the altar. 
He is " the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into 
the world," and as every Mason turns his face to the great light on 
the altar, so does every man turn his faith for knowledge of him- 
self and of God toward Jesus Christ on the cross. Our great light 
is on the altar of the cross. 

All the light that reveals sin comes from Christ. Conscience 
need no longer be in doubt. The words of Christ are very clear, 
and no man can mistake them who reads them. The life of Christ 
is an illuminated copy of his words. Just as those prints which 
are found in the papers illustrate the text is the life of Jesus 
Christ related to His teaching. A man standing by the side of Christ 
merely and listening to His words cannot learn his defect. Sin is 
revealed not simply by the words, but by the manifested life of 
Christ. And then, if you would know what sin is in its very 
essence and spirit, see Christ on the cross. It seems to me that 
God permitted our Master to ascend the cross, not only to be the 
redeemer of the race, but to show every man just what sin would 
come to if it had full, free course. Dear friends, that heart that 
is sinning against God would be glad to have God out of the way. 
No man lives who continues in sin that would not delight in the 
annihilation of God. This is one meaning of the crucifixtion 
of Christ. We all remember the cry, " His blood be upon us and 
upon our children." Sin is revealed by Christ alone. The letter 
of the law of Sinai does not reach down far enough, because 
here is a man who says, " I never committed murder, I never 
committed adultery, I never stole." He prides himself upon not 
being a sinner because he is free from the letter of the law. The 
life of Jesus Christ is the exposition of these ten commandments. 
He that is angry with his brother without cause has com- 
mitted murder. How do you stand now? He who indulges 
lustful thoughts is guilty of adultery. How does the 



SELF-CONDEMNATION. 51 

case stand now ? He that defraudeth his brother in any man- 
ner, has stolen. How does the case stand now? Jesus Christ 
reveals the thought and intent of the heart,* and manifests sin in 
its enormity and its hideousness. Modern philosophy seeks to 
destroy the fact of responsibility before God, and so get rid of 
the fact of sin, and an enlightened conscience in regard to sin. 
Why, if we believe that God is matter, if we believe that that 
book, as a material substance, is a part of God, that I am a part 
of God, that you are a part of God, accountability is gone, sin is 
gone, and with it the consciousness of sin. That is not Scripture. 
There are multitudes of men in this community whose whole con- 
sciences have been destroyed by false philosophy, who have lost 
their souls before they have died, and who have no more idea of 
accountability before God than the beasts that they see along the 
street. They have lost their minds, and have become sim- 
ply automatic machines. Philosophy will do very well in the 
things that concern this life, but when it comes to the spiritual 
life of man, and the eternal destiny of the soul ; when we come 
to square its teachings with the truth of God's word, how does it 
appear 1 Lord Bacon says that masks and mummeries and false 
principles look well enough in the candle-light, but they will not 
stand the opening of the blinds when the early morning hours 
have come. They will do very well during the night, but how 
garish they look when the true light comes in. They are very 
attractive and popular under the light of this world's expediency, 
but their enormity and falseness are shown when the first ray 
of the light that has come into the world shines upon them. 
Dr. Johnson says, somewhere, that there were men in his day 
who were philosophers of false theories, and who never would go 
to the laboratories to see experiments which exploded their fic- 
tions. That is the way with the philosophers of our day. 
They form theories which are very plausible, and very satisfac- 
tory to themselves, doubtless, but they do not take the pains 
to see the experiments that disprove them. Let them see a 
soul when it is being ushered into eternity with this awful load 
of responsibility, and then talk about a soul as being free from 
the control and the government of God. This is the whole cause 
of Christ's rejection — that men do not see the enormity of their 
sins. If you would know whether you are sinners, just sit down 
at the feet of Christ and compare the life that he led with your 
own, and see how you stand. I remember reading, some time ago, 
of a man who was in the habit of keeping a Bible in his house 
chained down to the floor. His friends asked him why he kept 
it chained down to the floor. He said : " I keep it there because 
I am afraid it will jump at me and condemn me." Men keep 
their Bibles shut out of their sight, or they turn over certain 



52 UNDER CANVAS. 

pages very rapidly, because the light of God's truth reveals their 
sins. 

Then, again, this light that is come into the world manifests 
the love of God. ISTo one appreciates the blessings of this life more 
than we. It is illustrated on every side with tokens of God's good- 
ness and loving kindness and patience and power, but I would 
like to have you point to any single fact that tells of the love of 
God to sinners. Who can tell you on what terms God will be 
reconciled to a guilty sinner. An angel can predict that if I am good, 
God will be good. There is no angel in heaven that can tell you 
that God will forgive me my sin and accept me in His righteous- 
ness. And yet, when we open to the life of this matchless man — 
this God manifest in the flesh — we see that the cross itself 
is an expression of love. The Lord says in this very chapter to 
Mcodemus, " God so loved the world, that He gave His only be- 
gotten Son." The methods that Christ adopted in presenting His 
great salvation, are illustrations of His love. When I go to Bethle- 
hem and bow over the manger, I see love incarnated. When I 
follow the Master through Galilee, I see love working even in great 
weariness. When I go to Bethany and stand before the tomb of Laza- 
rus, I see love sympathizing. When I go to Gethsemane, I see love 
agonizing. When I stand before the cross, I see love dying 
for the recovery of fallen man. Nowhere can a man so learn the 
love of God, as it is manifested by Christ. This is the light 
that is come into the world. The death of Christ is the highest 
possible manifestation of love. God sent His only begotten Son 
because He so loved the world. Where do you find a suggestion 
of such a love as that ? Where is there a light in this world so 
glorious and so transcendently beautiful as this ? I hesitate not 
to say .to you that humanity is but a reflection of that light 
which has come to us in the love of God through Christ. 
The fact that you take care of the little crippled child, mother, is 
a testimony of the love of God which comes through Christ. 
The fact that the aged parent is not cast out in absolute 
and utter rejection, is an influence of the gospel of Christ. 
Every reform institution ; every hospital ; every house of ref- 
uge; every asylum for those who are afflicted and diseased, is 
only a reflection upon the human heart of some of the light which 
shines down from God Almighty through Jesus Christ. Human 
love is the reflection of divine love. I saw, not long since, 
in one of the galleries of the Centennial Loan Exhibition, 
now in our city, a painting that illustrates just this truth. It 
represents a martyr standing in the arena awaiting the moment 
of her death. Behind the barred cage are seen two or three 
lions, winch have been sated by former martyrdom, with the 
blood of the victims marking the lintel of the door through which 



SELF-CONDEMNATION. 53 

they have been put into the den. They play with one another in 
the complete rest and composure of those who have been perfectly 
satisfied. Behind another grating stands a leopard in wild 
fury, waiting the moment when the bars shall be withdrawn and 
he shall make his jump of destruction upon this timid girl. Her 
face is represented as having been veiled with deep black, that 
she might not see the destruction so soon coming to her. 
From a seat above some one has cast a flower which is 
before her feet. She has raised her vail, and is looking up 
with such an expression of gratitude and devotion to the loved 
one above, that, for the time, entirely destroy all fear and banish 
all thoughts of her coming death. Love from above had made 
her indifferent to the misery that was awaiting her below. It 
seems to me that a far higher and nobler exhibition of the power 
of love is shown by the Lord Jesus Christ as he sends down to- 
kens of His love through this gospel, which, if accepted and be- 
lieved, robs life of its misery and teaches us of eternal refresh- 
ment and rest. Jesus Christ reveals the love of God. 

Then this light that has come into the world, opens our future 
destinies. It is the glory of this gospel that it brings life and 
immortality to light. For the most part, human philosophy has 
left the future world in darkness. The infidel Hobbes, after all 
his scheming, theorizing and thinking, when he came to the 
last moments of life, declared, " I am taking a fearful leap into 
the dark." It was the best he could say. Even Goethe, the 
master of German poetry, in the last expression of his life, 
cried out, " Open the shutters and let in more light," for he was 
oppressed with darkness in the closing moments of his earthly 
career. There has never been a future world pictured by human 
philosophy or human poetry, which has not been adapted to the 
bodies of men. The conception of man has been that his body 
was to be in existence in a future state, and so certain schools of 
philosophy have intensified and exaggerated the pleasures of this 
life. This is the best conception of a future world that such philoso- 
phy has ever been able to form. Turn to the book of Revelation. 
Look at the wonderful pictures that it gives of the world to come. 
What a contrast is here presented between the two conceptions of 
a future world. I remember that Thomas Scott, on his dying 
bed, said, " This is heaven begun ; I have done with darkness 
forever. Nothing remains but light and glory." And Luther, 
that good old war-horse, when he had come to the last ebb- 
ing of life, said, " God is the God from whom cometh 
salvation. God is the Lord by whom we escape death." With 
words no less doubtful than those he used in describing the eter- 
nal blessedness, did our gracious Master speak of the terrors of the 
bottomless pit. No godless man in his senses can read the words 



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of Jesus in the parable of Dives and Lazarus, and doubt 
that there is misery before him. In the parable of the 
great feast to which one had come without the wedding 
garment, the Lord commanded him to be cast out into outer 
darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. If 
you will allow me the illustration, this gospel of Jesus Christ is a 
great head-light casting illumination into the world to come. 
Just as the engineer steers his course and governs his speed by 
that which the head-light reveals in advance, so does the man 
who accepts the light that has come into the world, guide himself 
by the revelations made in this book as to his future destiny. This 
light that has come into the world reveals sin, manifests 
the love of God, and opens the future destiny of souls. 

II. Will you bear with me whilst I tell you that, from this text, 
we learn that all shadows are of human choice. At noon time, 
the sun is right over us, the sun casts no shadows, neither on 
the face nor on the figure. It is the privilege of every living 
man this night to stand in this world as in the noon-tide of the 
Sun of Righteousness and engage in his daily avocations 
without a single shadow either on his conscience, his cha- 
racter or his career. As there is all light in the world at 
noon time, so is there all light in the gospel to which we are in- 
vited. The daylight of the soul in this world is its turning away 
from sin, the night of the soul is its turning away from Jesus 
Christ. If we abide in the light, we shall be kept in the light ; 
if we turn away from the light, we shall be kept in shadow. I 
do not say that there are not times in every Christian's life when 
dark shadows do not flit over the soul, but they do not obscure the 
great light. They are permitted by God for the accomplishment 
of some glorious purpose that He does not yet reveal, but so far 
as our privilege under this gospel is concerned, just where Jesus 
Christ left His eleven disciples, may we ever stand. On the top 
of Mount Olivet He prayed over them, and plead with the 
Father for their sake. In the full enjoyment of His love and 
care and solicitude, Christ left His Church, and there it is our 
privilege to stand to-day. 

And yet, to all this men about me are absolutely indifferent. 
They love darkness rather than light. They prefer ignorance 
to knowledge, like those we see, as we walk down the street, clos- 
ing their shutters when the morning sun shines on their side of 
the house. The light brings heat, and they don't want the heat, 
and so they shut out the light. The gospel of God not only 
brings information and knowledge, but power, and because men 
do not want to submit to power, they prefer to remain in the dark- 
ness which it reproves. They prefer to be in uncertainty rather 
than to yield themselves to God. What a choice is this. Into 



SELF-CONDEMNATION. 55 

what absurdities, into what impossibilities are men led who shim 
the glorious light of the gospel of God as it shines in the face of 
Jesus Christ. The most credulous men in this community are 
the men who reject Jesus Christ. They believe in more miracles 
than ten of such Bibles as this would contain. God pity the men 
that prefer the darkness of ignorance to the knowledge of God's 
truth. They are never at home except in the darkness. They 
are like owls, that hide in the darkness and cannot bear the light. 
They hide in the recesses and are always hooting at this dreadful 
light because it is contrary to their nature, and they will not 
submit themselves to its power. 

Men love hatred rather than holiness. This is the declar- 
ation of our Lord. The gospel comes to them appealing 
to their hearts and intellect and consciences, and yet they 
reject it. "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh." I read 
the other day of a man who was coming to the cross by the 
way of the Lord's Prayer, and he began to say, " Our Father who 
art in Heaven," and continued on until he came to the petition, 
" Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against 
us," and he said, " No, I cannot say that." Then you will have 
to remain in darkness ; if you cannot forgive your brother man, 
you never can come into fellowship with God. It is a fundamen- 
tal fact of His gospel. That man preferred hatred to holiness. It 
was only the other day I was talking to a young man who tried to 
persuade me that he could be a Christian and yet distribute the 
chips in a gambling hell, ready to sell his soul for the mere pur- 
poses of gain. Men complain against the gospel because they 
hate that which it commands. All down our streets to-day gin 
shops have had their back doors open. I stood near one and saw 
several men come out of one of these hells. They were filled 
with those who were seeking the gratification of their appetites. 
What were they ? So many escapes from the effect of the sacred 
influences of a quiet Sabbath. Do you suppose every man who 
went in there was thirsty ? I tell you nay. The associations of 
the day and the restrictions of the law were so burdensome that 
whatever love of sin and hatred against God and holiness was in 
their hearts they took with them, and gave expression to them in 
these places, which are so many entrances to hell. Men try to 
get out of the light of the gospel into these refuges of sin and 
vice. 

Then there are men who prefer doubt to assurance. They are 
always in dread and darkness. They never say " I know whom 
I believe." " Do you doubt whether you are a Christian ? " "I 
hope I am." They are always downcast and despairing. They are 
always dubious of their standing before God. There should be 
no doubtful Christians. The gospel of Jesus Christ brings us into 



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absolute security and sonship with Him. You can be as secure 
to-night as after the judgment day, for your security is in Christ. 
If Christ lives you shall live. If you are related to Him, then 
your life is everlasting. 

III. There is one other point to which I will call your attention, 
and then I will close. All condemnation is self-wrought. Our 
Lord emphasizes this truth when he says, " And this is the con- 
demnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved dark- 
ness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." The gospel 
comes to us with its sweet message of reconciliation to God and 
eternal life through Jesus Christ His only begotten Son ; but men 
reject this light, which has come into the world, because their 
deeds are evil. 

It is their own fault which insulates them. I have a 
district telegraph instrument in my house. It is ready to 
call a, messenger, or to summon the fire engine or the policeman, 
but if I cut the wire I destroy all communication. The instru- 
ment is there perfect in all its parts, but I have cut the connec- 
tion ; I have insulated myself. If a man says, " I will have none 
of Christ; I will not have Him as my Saviour," it is his own unbe- 
lief which leads him to reject Christ. He makes it impossible for 
Almighty God to save him as long as he remains a free agent. If 
he were a machine, God could control him. So long as he is a 
man with a conscience, he can be saved in no other way than by 
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ — by believing the testimony and 
resting on the word. 

Then there are some who are guilty not only of unbelief, but 
of blasphemy. I want to say to these men that God is a prayer- 
hearing God. Every man who swears prays, and just as certain 
as God is a prayer-answering God, every oath that has been uttered 
by the blaspheming lips of men, will come down upon them in the 
day of God's account. If you ask Him to send your soul to hell, 
He will keep you to your word. Lf you pray God to damn your 
soul, He will hold you to your prayer. Let no man think that 
blasphemy is a sin that will not be punished, and that when he 
blasphemes he is doing no harm. God will answer his petition. 
If you are condemned at the last day it will be your own fault. 

When you stand on a precipice and reach over to pluck the 
flower that is just a little beyond your line of balance, it is your 
own fault if you go over. God have pity upon men who are 
going downward at such a spee3 that no influence short of 
omnipotence can arrest them. All about us are men that are 
tempting hell. God must interpose with His outstretched arm in 
some marvellous way to keep them from the bottomless pit. You 
might as well say that if you take poison into your mouth, or if 
by your own vice you contract some loathsome and incurable 



SELF-CONDEMNATION. 57 

disease, it is God's fault if you die, as to say that it is God's 
fault, or the defect of this great salvation, if you are lost by- 
reason of your godless life. God have pity upon men that have 
no pity for themselves. You will be compelled to confess at the 
last day that you alone are to blame, and that it is not a defect 
in the gospel of Christ. It is not the insufficiency of the redemp- 
tion of Christ. It is not the withholding of the Holy Spirit. It 
is your own unbelief and hardness of heart. Oh, turn not away 
from this great salvation. Live in the light of this glorious gospel 
which teaches you that your sins are forgiven through the blood 
of the Crucified One. Reflect this light in all your relations 
with your fellow men, loving them and ministering to them for 
Christ's sake. So shall you have joy and peace in this world, 
and be saved with an everlasting salvation. 



CHAPTER, VI. 



FAITH. 



SERMON BY THE REV. C. C. TIFFANY, OF THE CHURCH OF THE ATONEMENT, 
ON MONDAY, JUNE 26TH, 1876. 



" And He said unto her, Daughter, be of good oheer : thy faith hath made 
thee whole ; go in peace." — Luke viii. 48. 

There is, perhaps, no doctrine of religion more talked about 
than faith, nor one about which vaguer notions are held. We 
discuss its power, its effect upon justification, its connection with 
our religious growth — talk about its relations in every direction — 
and are still often sorely puzzled to explain to others or define to 
ourselves what it is. Many regard it as a most mysterious subject, 
while others, who tell us it is a most simple one, rather perplex 
than instruct us by their definitions. Yet it is well worthy of 
consideration. We are said to be saved by faith, to be justified by 
faith, to have the victory by faith, and as it is so interwoven with 
all our spiritual life, its origin, its guide, its final victory, we may 
be sure it is a subject not incomprehensible ; but one which we 
may grasp, if we but reach in the right direction. 

The example contained in the text furnishes us with an apt il- 
lustration from which to learn. As the end which our Lord came 
on earth to accomplish was the cure of a sinful race, the regene- 
ration and the restoration of men's souls, so the whole course of 
His life typified this its great end ; in that He went about doing 
good — healing the sick and raising the dead. But though the 
physical cure was but the type of the higher cure He came to 
work in man, the same means are prescribed for the 
attainment of each. While faith is to work the cure 
of our spiritual maladies, it is no less enjoined as the essential 



FAITH. 59 

requisite for the miracles of healing. If we then observe what it 
includes in the one case, we shall learn what it requires in the 
other and higher one. 

The person of whom the words in the text are spoken was, as 
we read in a few verses previous, " a woman having an issue of 
blood twelve years, which had spent all her living upon physicians, 
neither could be healed of any, who came behind Jesus, and 
touched the border of His garment : and immediately her issue of 
blood stanched." Yet she was told by our Lord that her faith 
had made her whole. What was there in her conduct that 
exhibited faith ? 

I. First, there was a complete renunciation of herself 

It was no mere fortuitous touch by which she was healed. It 
was a deliberate act, one considered and determined upon ; and it 
was determined upon because she had given up all hope of curing 
herself, or of being cured by any mere human aid. She had been 
diseased twelve years ; had spent all her living upon physicians ; 
neither could be healed of any. This then was the first step she 
took — to give up all hope in herself and her resources ; and this 
too is the first step to be taken by those who seek a cure of their 
sinfulness. There is indeed a something which goes before this, 
antecedent in her case, and ours, viz: that we acknowledge our- 
selves diseased. We shall never seek for a cure unless we believe 
a cure is necessary, and this is one reason why, to many, the whole 
subject of faith is so obscure. They really feel no need of it, 
and therefore cannot understand what it is. But we need not 
dwell upon this at the present time, for though this acknowledge- 
ment of our need of faith presupposes its exercise, it forms no 
part of faith, but is only its necessary precursor. 

But it is a part, and an essential part, of faith, on finding our- 
selves diseased, that we renounce all hope of working our own cure, 
or of having that cure wrought by others like ourselves. It is true 
that this is but a negative part of the process, but it is an active 
part. As self-denial necessarily precedes the taking up of the 
Cross, so self -distrust must go before trust in another, and is an 
essential part of the process. It is a part, too, which is most 
difficult to attain. We are not ready to distrust ourselves ; we 
cling as long as we can to what is about us and like ourselves. We 
spend all that we have upon physicians of our own kind and 
choosing, and until we have tried them all we are not willing to 
be convinced that they are vain. We fly to sensuous pleasure and 
try to drown out our sense of danger ; imagining, like the ostrich, 
who, burying her head in the sand, thinks she shall escape notice 
because she cannot see her pursuers, that we can restore our souls 
by forgetting them. Or else we seek intellectual pursuits, or de- 
light in nature and in art to cure the moral evil, and only when 



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at last we experience the vanity of all this, do we begin to dis- 
trust ourselves. 

It was just so in the history of the world. Mankind had to 
be prepared for the coming of the Great Physician. The highest 
intellectual cultivation, the noblest codes of law, the most en- 
chanting beauties of art had to be tried, and had to show their in- 
sufficiency before the fullness of time arrived when Christ should 
come for the healing of the nations. Without this preparation 
His coming would have been well nigh in vain. He would not 
have been recognized as the desire of all nations had not all that 
they could do been done to satisfy their longings, and been done 
in vain. In the sense of their own insufficiency we alone find the 
explanation of those expectations of some great hero or prophet 
of which the ancient historians speak, and to which the coming of 
the wise men from the East bears witness. The creation had 
groaned and travailed in pain until then. It had tried its utmost 
resources — had tried them fairly. They had proved incompetent. 
They could amuse but they could not cure. When the world had 
attained its highest elevation ; when its art, its commerce, its 
laws, its literature were in their meridian splendor, the disease 
raged more fearfully than ever. It could not be concealed — man 
sank impotent before it, and awaited the coming of one higher 
than he. 

The history of mankind is repeated in each one of us. We 
must feel our own insufficiency before we learn to trust another. 
Is it not true of those of you who have believed from the heart, 
that this self -distrust was your first great obstacle ? And of those 
who have not yet had this faith I would ask, is not your great 
difficulty this, that you are trusting in yourselves, that you do 
lean on some worldly support, and though you may know you 
are sick and need a physician, you yet believe that this world will 
in some way offer the needed medicine ? Oh ! let the experience 
of mankind teach you the folly of such a course — the delusive- 
ness of such hopes. Learn of the poor woman who had an issue 
of blood twelve years, and spent all her living upon physicians, 
neither could be healed of any. 

But though the dawnings of faith may be seen in the 
renunciation of ourselves, there is yet needed a further 
progress before the Sun of Righteousness can rise with 
healing in His wings. The poor woman did not stop 
with mere distrust of herself. If she had, despair would only 
have deepened her disease instead of removing it. She went 
further, she added to her self -distrust a trust in Christ. She be- 
lieved that He could heal her. ," She said, if I may but touch His 
clothes I shall be whole." And this is what we must do if our 
souls are to be healed. 



FAITH. 61 

II. We must add to our self -distrust a trust in Christ. We 
must earnestly believe that He can heal us. This is the positive 
and aggressive element in faith. The faith is an activity of our 
being, and is no mere acquiescence of the soul in what is pro- 
pounded to it. 

This saving faith must be a faith in Christ as the Saviour 
fro?n sin. How often do persons perplex themselves over the 
nature of the faith they must exercise. They take the injunction 
— " believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved "—as 
the truth, but then are troubled to know what believing on Him 
is. Whatever else it may be, this much is true — that it is to be- 
lieve on Him as the Saviour. Of what use would it have been to 
the poor woman to have acknowledged Christ as the Messiah, if 
she had not believed the Messiah to be the healer of His people. To 
have believed on Him as a great teacher might have taught her to 
respect Him. To have believed on Him as the anointed one 
who should arise to deliver her people from the Roman yoke, 
might have awakened an awe and reverence for Him; but would 
she ever have been healed if she had not believed on Him as one 
competent to cure her disease ? It is so with us sinful men. We 
must believe on Christ as one who can save us from sin. It is 
true that this view involves others. To believe on Christ as one 
who can save from sin, is to own Him as sinless, and it is to be- 
lieve on Him as having a Divine power to condemn sin — a power 
to rebuke its power and to free us from its consequences. These 
views lead us on to still higher views — to believe in Him as the 
atonement for sin, and therefore, as more than man — as, indeed, 
He is declared to be, and as He must be if He have power to save 
us, as the incarnate Word, which was in the beginning with God, and 
was God. I have drawn out these views to show that I do not place 
any light value on Christ when I say that a saving faith is a faith 
in Him as the Saviour from sin ; for all those high views of His 
character and His person are involved in this idea. Yet when 
we are seeking for a physician for our souls, it is not immediate- 
ly on these high prerogatives that we fix our gaze, but on that 
which all these enable Him to be, on Him as the one who hath power 
on earth to forgive sins. Here then is the point on which we are 
to fix our faith, and the belief we have in Him must be such as shall 
enable us to say, " Lord, be merciful to me a sinner." To a be- 
lief in His power must also be added a belief in His willingness 
to save us, a trust in Him, a full confidence that He who can 
will give rest to those who rely upon Him. A belief in His 
mercy and love is necessarily included in saving faith, for other- 
wise we never could draw near to Him. Nor is this any lowering 
of His divine holiness nor a mote in the blaze of His resplendent 
purity. It is not to make Him a disregarder of moral distinctions, 



62 UNDER CANVAS. 

or to weaken His hatred of sin in itself. For the very fact of 
His ability and willingness to forgive sin is founded npon His 
freedom from it and His suffering for its sake. Thus it is that 
saving faith is faith in a Saviour from sin. 

But the faith which made the woman whole was more than 
this. It included so great a desire to be saved, as brought her 
to Christ, and thus we learn — 

III. That we must so earnestly desire to be saved that 
we shall come to the Saviour. The belief that Christ can and 
will save us will never work our cure, unless we so 
long for salvation as to come to Him. And there must 
be a hearty desire. For there are always obstacles enough to 
keep us off from Him. The poor woman found it so. There was 
a crowd around and she could not approach Him. But she 
pressed through the crowd, determined to touch at least the hem 
of His garment ; this vehement desire was the final point in her 
struggle. Had she contented herself with a belief in His power 
and willingness to cure her, she never would have been cured. It 
was only by coming to Him, by overcoming the difficulties be- 
tween her and Him that she was freed from her disease. And 
here is the lesson for us : It is not only a general belief in 
Christ as a Saviour which is to save us, but it is such a faith as 
brings us to Him. Only from connection with Him comes the 
cure, only as we take Him to our hearts does the virtue go out of 
Him which heals us. And yet how truly is the experience of the 
poor woman the experience of us all, that obstacles arise when 
we would go to our Saviour to be saved. We approach with 
trembling, and would fain wait till this or that object disappear. 
Yet we must press through them. Our business so important, 
we cry, must be attended to, and if Christ is so able and so will- 
ing to save, may He not save when this is over and no obstacle 
intervenes between us and Him ? But when shall the time come ? 
"When will there not be something to engage our attention, or 
some obstacle which we may stumble at, if we do not resolve 
that nothing shall keep us from Him. Let us learn from this 
sick woman who, weakened by long disease, shrinking because of the 
crowd, yet pressed forward and grasped after Him until she touched 
His robe. Let us not wait or delay, but like her, press through 
whatever opposes us now, and observe this also that we press 
through these difficulties to Christ. The crowd which surround- 
ed our Lord, was in part at least composed of His disciples. But 
the woman did not apply to them or seek for mediators between 
herself and her Lord When seeking Him, they were obstacles to 
her, and even through them she must pass to reach her Lord 
Peter was there, and would explain away the cure which he had 
not noticed ; as even in our day, there are those who claim direct 



FAITH. 



63 



descent from him and hold his keys, who share his spirit, and 
would deny a cure they have not witnessed and have not helped. 
But never must we let even the holiest disciples, or the most ele- 
vated in the Christian Church intervene between us and our Lord. 
To Him we must go, He alone has the words of eternal life. Our 
faith in Him must be such that none other can suffice us. It is 
only in His presence and by contact with Him, by a personal 
union between Him and our soul, that this virtue is imparted to 
us. It is not, it is not what man can do for us, even in leading 
us to Christ, which can cleanse us. Parents may dedicate us to 
God. The church may receive us to its bosom. Our brows may 
be sprinkled with baptismal dew, and we may partake of the 
food from the Lord's table, but unless our hearts be joined to 
Christ, unless, leaving father and mother, we present ourselves 
to the Lord, unless we feed upon Him by faith in our hearts, 
the disease still rankles in our bosoms and we are not healed. 
But when we once approach Him how soon are we whole ! We 
may not know much of Christ, we may have but imperfect views 
of His nature and His work, yet, if we only come to Him as 
our Saviour from sin — if, seeking Him as the curer of our souls, 
we but clasp the hem of His garment, — a virtue goes out of 
Him, the tide of corruption is stopped — such marvellous power 
lies in Him. It would seem that He could not help curing — that 
before Him sin must flee not so much because He wills it, as be- 
cause it is He. So that when we but catch a glimpse of Him the 
day dawns upon us, for "in Him is no darkness at all, — in His 
light we see light." What cures has His presence wrought in the 
history of our world. Who that has opened their heart to Him 
but has found joy and peace in believing. When He has passed 
by, the spiritually blind have called to Him and have received 
their sight. Men who have crippled their persons by degrading 
vices have fallen before Him and been made whole. Those so 
immersed in the noise and business of the world as to be deaf to 
the pleadings of their hearts, hearing His voice have caught " the 
sound of glory ringing in their ears," and their mouths, before 
dumb to any word of thankfulness, have spoken aloud His praises. 
For He is the Great Physician. When men have stood between 
Him and the people the disease has continued to rage. When the 
church has been interposed between Him and the soul, the 
power has been staid. When the sacraments have been elevated 
in His stead they have ceased to nourish the soul. Only as Christ 
has been evidently set forth by them have they proved of use. 
Only as Christian ministers point men to Christ and away from 
themselves, have they proved a blessing to mankind. 

Know then, from the history of mankind as well as from the 
woman of whom the text speaks, that this is saving faith, so to 



64 UNDEE CANVAS. 

believe in Christ as our Saviour from sin that we come to Him to 
he cleansed. The woman of the text knew but little of Christ's gen- 
eral character ; but this mnch she knew — that He could save her, 
and she acted on this belief. You may likewise act, though your 
view of Christ may be obscured by a thousand difficulties which 
surround Him, and the differing views of His disciples may 
intervene between you and your Lord, yet press through them all 
to Him ; grasp, at least, the hem of His garment, as you may do, 
and the cure will commence. It is true that great controversies 
have been waged in the Christian Church, and the great creeds 
which have come down to us from the early centuries are filled 
with curious definitions ; but their value consists only in so far as 
they preserve us our Saviour, and it was that Christ might be 
preserved as our Saviour, that men were ready to lay down their 
lives for their dogmas. This is why the great body of Christians 
have held to these views, and carefully guarded them, because they 
have felt that when these are removed, the grounds on which 
we can claim Christ as our Saviour are removed also. But 
never think that because you may be perplexed by such 
statements, you must wait until they are all explained before 
you approach Him. The true way to have them solved, the only 
sure way, is to yield your heart to Christ, for " whosoever will 
do His will shall know of the doctrine." When we call a physi- 
cian it is not necessary that we should have a clear perception of 
all the qualities which fit him for his office, but only that we can 
trust his skill. It is when we come in contact with him and our 
disease is stayed by his healing art, that we learn rightly to appre- 
ciate his character. Then are we ready to acknowledge his claims 
and also to appreciate them. The blind man whom Christ healed, 
even after he had washed in the pool of Siloam and received his 
sight, though he praised Christ's power and acknowledged that He 
was of God, so that he was cast out of the synagogue, had yet 
but imperfect views of Him. When Christ asked him, " Believest 
thou on the Son of God ? " he said, " Who is He, Lord, that I 
might believe ? " But he was prepared to own the claims of one 
who had saved him. When Jesus said unto him, " Thou hast 
both seen Him, and it is He who talketh with thee," he instantly 
replied, "Lord, I believe," and he worshipped Him. It is not diffi- 
cult to own a Divine power when once we have felt it. 

Let not, therefore, anything come between you and your Sav- 
iour. He is waiting to be gracious. " Behold, I stand at the 
door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I 
will come in to him." You may not understand the quality and 
station of your guest, but you will not long be in doubt when 
once you are set down at meat with Him. And when your meal 
is blessed by His presence, like the disciples at Emmaus, your 



FAITH. 65 

eyes will be opened to know Him. You will wonder you could 
have doubted Him so long. Your heart will burn within you as 
you read the Scriptures concerning Him ; and as trembling you 
fall before Him, and declare why you have come to Him, 
to you, also, He will say, " Be of good comfort, thy 
faith hath healed thee ; go in peace." And does some one 
say, Oh ! that is true and good for others, but it can- 
not touch me, for I am too vile, too burdened, too far gone 
in sin. Not too far, if you have not lost the sense of it ; not, if 
you have yet a longing which will let you seek. See how St. 
Paul understood this invitation to come, as he addressed his first 
letter to the Corinthians. In the sixth chapter of that letter he 
goes over a list of the worst vices of that commercial port, which 
was to Greece very much what New York is to the United States, 
and whose moral condition was not unlike that of some of our 
citizens; and after he had rehearsed their vices, proclaiming against 
them some things so shameless, that even those who do them 
do not mention them, he says : " And such were some of you, 
but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in 
the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God." 
Think of that — one of the most joyful passages that was ever 
written — and then think what you will of yourselves, but never 
doubt Christ's power to save you. "Whosover will, let him take 
the water of life freely. 

11 Come, humble sinner, in whose heart 
A thousand thoughts revolve, 
Come with your load of sins oppressed, 
And make this last resolve : 

I'll go to Jesus, though my sin 
Hath like a mountain rose, 
I'll know His courts. I'll enter in 
Whatever may oppose. 

Perhaps He will admit my plea, 
Perhaps will hear my prayer, 
But if I perish, I will pray, 
And perish only there." 

And there you cannot perish, for He hath said : "Whosoever 
cometh unto Me I will in nowise cast out. Come. 



CHAPTER VII. 



VAIN EXCUSES 



SERMON BY THE REV. J. D. HERR, OF THE CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH, 
WEST 42D ST., N. T. CITY, ON TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 1876. 



" And they all with one consent began to make excuse." — Luke xiv., 18. 

It is now over eighteen centuries since Christ taught His won- 
derful doctrines in the temple and synagogues of Jerusalem. 
The truth He then uttered has been carried over land and sea, 
until millions multiplied have been educated therein. No such 
wonderful message had ever reached the listening ear of human- 
ity, and we would suppose that all who heard would gladly re- 
ceive the word, and accept salvation on the terms of the Gospel. 
Alas ! how different has been the fact. Instead of receiving it 
men have rejected it, and the question frequently comes to 
the thoughtful mind: Why are there so few Christians, even in 
this land of Bible and sanctuary privileges ? If at this moment 
the dark-winged angel of death were to enter this Gospel Tent, 
and take from the congregation all the careless and openly 
profane persons, how many of us would be left ? If he would 
come the second time and remove in the twinkling of an eye all 
the backsliders, half-hearted professors, and those living at ease 
in Zion, how many of us would remain? 

What is the cause of all this absolute and fatal neglect of 
duty ? Has Christianity lost its power over the minds of men ? 
" Is the arm of the Lord shortened that it cannot save, or His 
ear heavy that it cannot hear ? " God still stretches forth His 
hands toward men. The fountain of mercy is yet accessible to 
the race, and the invitation still declares " That whosoever will 
may come." Why, then, are not the people saved ? Simply be- 
cause, with many other reasons, they are constantly making 



VAIN EXCUSES. 67 

excuses for not accepting the invitations of the gospel. Human 
nature is the same now as in the days of Christ. The parable 
before us illustrates traits of character everywhere visible among 
the people. 

In the secret chambers of the Trinity, the gospel feast has been 
prepared for all men. The richest provisions in the storehouse 
of God have been placed on the table of redemption. A general 
invitation has been extended to the entire brotherhood of man, to 
" Come, for all things are now ready." What an expression of the 
Father's love is this ! Is it out of the range of reason to suppose 
the invitation would receive an universal response from all 
classes and conditions of men ? "We would suppose the farmer 
would leave his plow and hasten to the feast ; but no, he 
strangely sends the excuse that he has "bought a piece of land 
and must needs go and see it." He appears to be absorbed in 
the desire for gain. Surely the merchant will act more wisely 
when the news of the feast is carried to him. Alas ! he, too, 
sends back an excuse,- foolish as it is strange, " that he has bought 
five yoke of oxen, and he must needs go and prove them." What 
a lame excuse this is ! Cannot he prove his oxen to-morrow and 
come to the supper to-night ? Is supper-time a good hour of the 
day to try oxen ? I fear the excuse is only an evasion. How sad 
it is that the business cares and desires for gain keep men from 
God. We will carry the invitation to those who are engaged in 
the pleasures of life, and see if they will not accept. Here 
is an excuse even more abrupt than the others, " I have 
married a wife, and therefore I cannot come." If the man 
had been invited to a funeral, his excuse would have been, 
perhaps, admissible, but he was invited to a feast — just such a 
ceremony as we would suppose a newly married pair would wish 
to be at. The excuse is absurd, and is an insult to the giver of the 
feast. Thus is it to-day; the traffic in farms and merchandise, 
together with the pleasures and relationships of earth, still keep 
men and women from accepting the invitations of mercy. If I 
were to walk down the aisles of this tent, and go to each man and 
woman who is yet out of Christ, and urge each one to accept the 
gospel invitation to-night, I would hear an excuse from each as 
absurd and foolish as those referred to in the parable before us. 
One evidence of the invalidity of all such excuses is — they do not 
stand the severe tests to which they are put even in this life. That 
man sitting on yonder chair has been excusing himself for many 
years, and supposing his excuses are really correct. But suppose 
that sickness strikes him to-night, how long will his excuses re- 
main ? and, suppose that before the morning dawns, death grap- 
ples for his heart-strings, and begins with his terrible chisel to 
sharpen his features for the grave, how long will he hold to his 



68 UNDER CANVAS. 

excuses ? They have all vanished, and if they will not stand the 
ordeal of death, think you they will stand the solemn scrutiny of 
God, when we are all gathered before the judgment seat of His 
Son? 

For a short time we will examine some of the more common 
excuses that we meet in our approaches to the unconverted. The 
first one comes as a general thing from the young ; they tell us 
that — 

Religion is a gloomy thing, and they want nothing of it. They 
would have us believe that the form of Christianity is clothed in 
the weeds of mourning, and that her eyes are constantly filled 
with tears of sorrow. They imagine religion to be a grim spectre 
haunting the pathway of those who embrace its teachings, and 
clouding the fair sky of life even to the portals of the tomb. 
They conclude that all the roses in the garden of God contain 
hidden thorns, which will lacerate the hand of him who plucks 
them. What a misconception this is of the religion of Jesus 
Christ — it savors of the cloister, and the unholy dogmas hatched 
within the womb of superstition. 

What is religion ? It is the recognition of God as the right 
object of worship, love and obedience. It is that relation we 
have to Him as our Father, which enables us to appreciate His 
mercy, enjoy His confidence, and have fellowship with His Son, 
our Saviour ; that which gives us peace with God through our 
Lord Jesus Christ. The true character of God is revealed to us 
through His Son, and we see in that revelation a hand to help 
and a heart to feel for the sorrows and sufferings of men. The 
voice comes down through the centuries bearing the joyous 
tidings that " God so loved the world that He gave His only be- 
gotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but 
have everlasting life." This is a revelation of God's character, 
and also of His intentions toward man. A belief in Christ brings 
with it a conscious evidence of salvation, and the joy bells of the 
soul ring out the holy jubilee. To know that you are at peace 
with God, to feel that Jesus has forgiven all your sins, to have 
every chamber of the soul illumined with the Holy Ghost, and 
filled with the sweet aroma of God's love, certainly can be no 
other than a joy unspeakable and full of glory. 

The man struggling in the angry currents of yonder stream 
feels an inexpressible joy when delivered from danger. So the 
soul, bound in the chains of doubt and sin, leaps like a hart when 
brought into the light and liberty of God's dear children. No 
one can appreciate the rapture of the saved soul, except those 
who have experienced it, when it plumes its pinions of faith and 
says : 



VAIN EXCUSES. 69 

" 'Tis done, the ^reat transaction's done, 
I am the Lord's and He is mine, 
He drew me aud I followed on 
Charmed to confess the voice Divine." 

The slave girl whose liberty was purchased by a kind-hearted 
man, followed him through the crowd, crying " he redeemed me I 
he redeemed me ! " And the sinner who feels Christ has forgiven 
all his sins and set his soul at liberty, can do no other than weep 
for joy. During the war, some friends of mine were captured 
aud thrown into southern prisons. After a long and weary con- 
finement they were exchanged and hurried on board a vessel 
bound for Washington city. When they first caught sight of the 
Stars and Stripes they ran and embraced them, wetting them with 
their tears and kisses, and shouting at the top of their feeble 
voices, " we are free ! we are free ! " Yet their joy was not to 
be compared with the joy of those who feel they are " saved 
through the blood of the Crucified One." It is true many half- 
hearted and sickly professors would make you believe religion is 
both sad and gloomy. They have not allowed the perfect love 
of God to cast out the cold and chilling fears of unbelief from 
their timid souls, and when one looks upon them he can see no 
spiritual sunshine light up their features, or linger in the dull eyes 
of their faith. Their pathway has been in the underbrush grow- 
ing between the pleasures of this world and the banqueting 
house of God's dear children, and as they have not entered upon 
the high festivities of a life of faith in the Son of God, they 
cannot express its joys to others. The King of Israel declared 
he would rather be " a doorkeeper in the house of his God, than 
to dwell in the tents of wickedness." Solomon, his successor, 
quaffed every cup of earthly joy, and exclaimed, "All is vanity!" 
Yet of religion he says, "her ways are ways of pleasantness and 
all her paths are peace." Many under the sound of my voice 
have partaken of this spiritual joy. Numerous young converts, 
whose eyes are yet moist with the emotions of this secret of the 
Almighty's love, can testify to-night 

" 'Tis a heaven below, 
The Redeemer to know." 

It is said if honesty dwell anywhere it is in the heart and on 
the lips of a dying man. Try religion, amid the silent sadness of 
the death-chamber, and you find, as John Wesley once said, " Our 
people die well." " The chamber where the good man meets his 
fate, is blest above the common walks of life — quite on the verge 
of heaven." 

" Jesus can make a dying bed, 
As soft as downy pillows are, 
While on His breast we lean our head, 
And breathe our life out sweetly there." 



70 UNDEK CANVAS. 

Thus the excuse is answered, and its absurdity is clearly- 
evident. Do not, my dear young friends, allow such an excuse 
to keep you from God. Cast it from you as you would a viper, 
and let it sink into the pit of hell from whence it came. 

Another excuse comes from the smooth lips of the easy-going 
moralist, who lives in a house with walls so transparent that he 
sees and examines every passer-by, and has concluded that — 

Professors are no better than he is himself. 

This excuse is either true or false. If true, then those to 
whom this excuse refers, are not living as they should be- 
fore God and in the eyes of men. I am not here to ex- 
tenuate any of the crimes and inconsistencies perpetrated in 
the name of Christianity. I hold that a professor of religion 
ought to be the highest type of man. The lowest form of true 
Christian life is better than the highest form of worldly morality. 
For the men and women who profess Christ, and are living in 
such a way as to bring continual reproach on the church and the 
dear name of my Master, I have no apology. 

Jesus said : " Except your righteousness exceed the right- 
eousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter 
into the kingdom of heaven." There are many trees in the vine- 
yard, but the Lord of the vineyard has declared, " Every tree 
that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into 
the fire." Woe to the person who publicly takes on Christ, and 
then manifests such flagrant contradictions as to cause others to 
stumble by the way. Oft-times a careless professor of religion has 
been shorn of his spiritual locks in the ball-room, at the horse 
race, by the card table or in some other place of sinful amuse- 
ment, and those over whom he had influence were injured in 
their religious natures, and lost confidence in our holy Chris- 
tianity. 

These are sad spots in our feasts of Christian brotherhood, 
and do more to injure the progress of Christ's kingdom than all 
the writings of the sceptical world. The eternal God sits yet 
upon His throne of justice, and hypocrisy will surely be pun- 
ished, together with all false pretensions to Christian character. 
It is with feelings of sadness I make these statements, and I 
would it were otherwise with many who profess Christ, and yet 
are crucifying Him every day in the eyes of their fellow men. 
While these sad truths are confessed, I do rejoice there are good 
vines in the Master's vineyard, bearing most luscious fruit to His 
glory. Thousands of His hidden ones live within this populous 
city, and shall eventually walk with Him in white. The fact 
that there are counterfeits on a bank is good evidence of genuine 
currency. A broken or worthless bank will never have its issue 
counterfeited, for there would be no virtue upon which to 



VAIN EXCUSES. 71 

predicate success. While with sadness we acknowledge there are 
counterfeit Christains, we rejoice to know that the sacramen- 
tal host of God's elect is testifying to the power and 
grace of Christ day by day before a gainsaying world, 
and the cry that professors are no better than self-righteous 
moralists does not and cannot reach the true believer in Christ 
Jesus. But, my dear sir, suppose I for one moment admit the 
validity of your excuse, how will the admission benefit your in- 
dividual relations to God f If I were to admit that all the old 
patriarchs were hypocrites — that Noah and Abraham, and Moses 
and Daniel, and all the ancient worthies, were no better than the 
Sodomites, or other heathen nations around them; if I were to 
admit that the New Testament characters were no better than 
Herod, who slaughtered the innocents, or Pilate, who yielded to 
the Jewish cry of hate against Jesus ; and suppose I admit that 
all the Christians you ever knew, including, perhaps, your own 
mother, who died with the name of Jesus on her lips, were all 
hypocrites, tell me, in the name of eternal justice, will this save 
your soul, or absolve you of your moral obligations f Remember 
man stands alone in his individual moral character, and by a law 
of God and moral necessity, every man must give an account of 
himself 'to God. 

If you have allowed the foolish excuse that professed Chris- 
tians are not any better than yourself, to keep you from Christ, 
you are making a mistake, which if you persist in, will prove 
fatal. The excuse is worthless and will not stand the solemn 
searchings of the judgment day. Your duty lies in your own 
pathway and no one can take it up for you. The issues and al- 
lotments of eternity hang upon your accepting or rejecting sal- 
vation through the Lord Jesus, and upon the actions of no other 
one. Remember the deepest wail in the awful dirge of the 
damned,will be : " We knew our duty, but we did it not." 

Another excuse still obtaining credit, yet old as the false 
statement of Satan amid the bowers of Eden, is that — 

God is too merciful to punish men. 

Man in his natural and unregenerate condition is prone 
to form false conceptions of Jehovah's character, because he de- 
sires Him to be what his own sinful views and feelings would 
suggest and demand. Some, therefore, declare Him to be all 
mercy, while others see in Him nothing but wrath and terror. 
One argues, all will be saved irrespective of character or 
condition ; another asserts, that even infants may become victims 
to the stern decrees of justice. I am not here to theorize upon 
this awful, and, to us all, most important subject, but to de- 
clare in the most emphatic words of the Lord Jesus, that " No 
man knoweth the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son 



72 UNDER CAN VA 8. 

shall reveal him." The only true conception of God's character 
must be drawn therefore from the words and the life of Jesus, 
who is the " brightness of the Father's glory and the express 
image of His person." 

So doctrine is more clearly set forth through the wonderful 
revelations of Christ than God's absolute and essential 
holiness. It is also plainly declared that " without holiness, no 
man shall see the Lord." This holiness can only be obtained by 
sheltering under the precious blood of Christ. We may not be 
able to estimate the blood as highly as we wish, but it is not our 
estimate that bringeth salvation, but the value placed upon it by the 
God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ. This, then, is not only 
shelter, but purity, for it cleanseth us from all sin. Thus, the 
plain teaching of scripture is, that God's saving mercy is only ex- 
tended to man through faith in the Lord Jesus, and outside of 
this we can have no security from the just judgments of a sin- 
hating and holy God. In Christ alone is there safety. The hail 
of God's judgments which is destined to sweep away every false 
refuge and hiding-place of man, can never harm those who are 
in Christ Jesus. The clefted Rock is the only safe chamber for 
the soul when the wild, dark storm of God's anger against sin 
shall cover land and sea ; outside will be ruin to both soul and 
body. From what God has said in His holy word we can form 
no other conclusion. It is most solemnly declared that "the 
wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget 
God." " He that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth 
not shall be damned." How shall we escape, then, if we neglect 
so great salvation ? 

In the parable of Dives and Lazarus, Christ lifts the mysteri- 
ous vail intervening between the known and unknown worlds. 
We see the poor beggar, who would gladly have gathered up 
crumbs while upon earth, so pinching was his hunger, now 
seated at the festal board of the King of heaven, and the rich 
man tormented in the flames, with a great gulf intervening be- 
tween him and happiness. That gulf is God's eternal justice, and 
no one can scale it either in time or eternity, except he be 
cleansed and purified through the atoning blood of Christ. Re- 
member, God is of purer eyes than to overlook iniquity in angel 
or man, and hath declared that He will in nowise clear the 
guilty. The acts of God toward sinful and impenitent men have 
ever been in harmony with His declarations. See what He did 
when man rebelled against Him in the spring-time of the world's 
history. Even the imagination and thoughts of men became evil 
and that continually. God sent His spirit to strive with man for 
120 years. He also commissioned Noah for the same length of 
time to itinerate through the habitable globe and warn men to 



VAIN EXCUSES. 73 

repent and turn to God. No doubt many listened to the earnest 
cry of the preacher and were saved ; but the majority mocked 
the warning, and said : ■* Who is the Almighty that we should 
serve Him, and what profit is there if we pray unto Him ? " The 
cup of iniquity was full, mercy spread her pinions and flew back 
into the heart of God, the fo an tains of the great deep mingled 
their unchained waters with the rolling billows issuing from the 
windows of heaven, until the lofty peaks of the mountain ranges 
of earth were hidden beneath the waters, and the majestic voice 
of God alone was heard above the wave^ while the teeming mul- 
titudes of sinful and impenitent men dwelt in the silent and awful 
chambers of death. 

Look again: The people dwelling in the cities of the plain 
had become so corrupt that their moral foulness reached the 
nostrils of Jehovah. Not ten righteous men are found amid the 
populous streets or thoroughfares, and the massive thunderbolts 
of God's just indignation against sin swept over the plain and 
buried out of sight those fated cities. Thus could I multiply the 
instances where God's acts corroborate His declarations, and 
teach you and me the madness of rejecting His mercy, or hoping 
for escape outside of the shelter of blood. Do not, I beg of you, 
allow your soul to hang its eternal destiny upon a vain and 
frivolous excuse. As the angel said to the hesitating Lot, so 
would I say to you, unconverted man, " Escape for thy life ; look 
not behind thee ; neither stay thou in all the plain ; escape to the 
mountains lest thou be consumed." 

Another excuse to which I will refer is one common among 
all classes of the unconverted, and that is — 

There is time enough yet. 

There are two kinds of insanity. That which involves the 
brain and renders man incapable of consecutive thought or intel- 
ligent action, and another which implicates the moral sensibilities. 
The affections become so infatuated with the pleasures of the 
world and the allurements of sin, as to produce a spiritual condi- 
tion amounting to madness. The prodigal referred to in the para- 
ble of our Lord is a striking instance of this fact, when it is said of 
him, that he continued in his wild career until " he came to him- 
self." Before, he was "beside himself," his affections had become 
so crazed by the god of this world, as to warp his reason and 
judgment. This is the sad picture of men and women who are 
yet in the meshes of sin. The most intelligent voices of God's 
word are not allowed to penetrate their souls. The most fearful 
warnings of God's providence appear not to startle them, and in the 
very height of moral madness they plunge on amid the hurrying 
and thoughtless multitudes toward the dark night of eternal 
death. The issues and allotments of eternity hang upon the frail 



74: UNDER CANVAS. 

thread of this mortal life. Heaven and hell are interested in the 
momentous questions of salvation, yet the pulse of an infatuated 
heart makes no responsive throb to the overwhelming truths, 
and the foolish pass on and are punished. The young man 
upon whom you would press the startling subject of immediate 
surrender to God, looks up with a careless smile, and says, 
"there is time enough yet." The young woman, whose silly 
heart is taken up with the pleasures and vanities of the world, an- 
swers your earnest pleadings by the excuse, " there is time 
enough yet." The old man, whose trembling frame is shaking 
with the dread palsy of death, turns his head at the invitations 
of mercy, and boldly asserts, " there is time enough yet." The 
man who was snatched from the very jaws of destruction by 
a merciful Providence, and who felt in the hour of danger the 
necessity of making his peace with God, now cries out after his 
miraculous deliverance, " there is time enough yet." Truly men 
and women are beside themselves upon the question of their soul's 
salvation. The god of this world has darkened down every win- 
dow of their moral consciousness, so as to blind them to their best 
interests. Reason knocks at the door of their hearts and cries 
aloud, judgment sends forth its mandates and calls upon the 
will to surrender, and conscience sounds all its alarm bells. Yet 
still the cry comes from the sadly misguided heart, " there is 
time enough yet." Surely the devil has deluded them with his 
terrible lies in order that they may be lost. There is no more 
startling picture of danger than a morally unconscious sinner 
sleeping upon the brink of eternal destruction. The voice of 
God is calling this moment upon all before me who are yet un- 
saved, that " now is the accepted time ; and, behold I now is the 
day of salvation." 

" Hasten, sinner, to be wise, 
Stay not for the morrow's sun, 
Lest perdition thee arrest 
Ere the morrow is begun." 

A clergyman out west remarked to me, while the tears welled 
up in his eyes, that he would never say to any sinner again that 
" there was time enough yet " for them to seek salvation, for, 
said he, " a short time since I visited one of my parishioners, and 
met a lovely young lady, the daughter of the parents at whose 
house I was visiting, and I said to her, Mary, I am going to 
commence a series of meetings next Sabbath, and I want you to 
embrace the opportunity then offered of seeking Christ." Mary 
said she would think about it. But, alas ! on the next Sabbath 
the minister stood beside the grave while they lowered the body 
of Mary down into its cold depths. " Over that grave," said the 
minister, " I solemnly promised God I would neve? say ' next 



VAIN EXCUSES. 75 

week,' to an unsaved man or woman, but would always cry that 
now is the accepted time and the day of salvation." 

I remember once, while holding a series of meetings, being 
called to the death-bed of a young man who was suddenly smit- 
ten down without any warning. When I entered his room he 
said, " Do pray for me, for the doctor says I can't live half an hour." 
I kneeled by his bedside and earnestly besought God in his be- 
half. When I arose he shook his head and cried, " I fear it is too 
late ; I fear it is too late ! " I told him of the dying thief, and 
how a merciful Saviour extended to him His great salvation, but 
he answered, " I am not that dying thief, for he, perhaps, never 
heard of Christ before, while I have heard of Him from child- 
hood, and have always rejected His mercy ; I fear it is too late." 
I still pleaded with him, but the cry still came, " too late ! " "If 
I had known," he said, "two nights ago, when I sat in your 
church and heard you inviting people to come to Christ, 
that I was so near death, I would have sought Christ then, but 
now it is too late ! " I asked him what message I should carry to 
his young companions at the church. He answered, " Tell them 
for me to seek Christ immediately." The next day, I followed 
his remains to the grave, and to-night, unconverted man, the voice 
comes from the tomb in the western cemetery to you, and bids 
you to " prepare to meet your God ; " for behold now is the ac- 
cepted time ; behold now is the day of salvation. May the Holy 
Spirit help you to-night to throw away every excuse, and be saved 
by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



ONE THING IS NEEDFUL. 



SERMON BY THE REV. WILLIAM S. RAINSFORD, B.A., (OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, 
ENGLAND,) ON SUNDAY EVENING, JULY 2, 1876. 



The ministry of the church of Christ is now-a-days called on 
to adapt its preaching to the age. I think the advice is good. So 
far we ought to be willing to follow it. Some two or three hun- 
dred years ago, for instance, they thought nothing of a sermon 
two hours or more long. I promise, in this particular at least, 
to suit the length of my sermon to the age to-night, and not to 
follow their questionable example. 

But by this cry, many mean to say " adapt the Gospel to the 
age; give us something more suitable for modern ears and ideas." 
Here I protest, we cannot, we dare not, we will not alter one iota. 
As the mere ambassadors of Christ, who are we, that we should 
presume to open and change the orders entrusted to . us by the 
King — messages of life and death ? But this we can and will do, 
reiterate and emphasize, so long as we have health and breath and 
life itself — the truths that in these last days men continue to ig- 
nore. This is the only way I know of, in which a herald of the 
Gospel of Christ can adapt his preaching to the age. 

The words I have read contain one of these, viz : " One thing 
is needful." Ah, it's true, as the ages roll on, the outward aspect 
of humanity may change much, but the inner wants of man 
remain the same — wants created by God, and capable only of 
being satisfied by Him. 

In theory, most men do not question this, but in practice, the 
business man cries, a man must get on in business; the man of 
pleasure, I must amuse myself ; and, sinking lower, some must 
drink and some be unclean. So earth's voices rise, while above 
them all, the still small voice of God is heard — one thing is 
needful. 

One would have thought that common sense was enough to 
convince men of this truth. Death takes all others away ; grasp 
thorn never so firmly, spend years in their acquisition, and 



ONE THING IS NEEDFUL. 77 

then in their enjoyment — death touches jou and they are gone. 

Pleasures themselves, as they fly past you, say " one thing is 
needful." You had a jolly day yesterday, I hear you say. I am 
glad to hear it — made so much money. Now, you are looking 
forward to another 4th of July. Suppose you see it ? Why, man, 
as it hurries by, it seems to say, one 4th of July less — one nearer 
death, nearer judgment ; if you have not the one thing needful, 
one 4th of July nearer hell. 

Jesus says one thing is needful, and if you have not listened 
to the other voices repeating the truth, I want you to listen to 
His voice to-night. And let me lay one solemn thought before 
you. Jesus is in a position to judge in this matter. He has be- 
stowed many and precious gifts on us here. With, liberal hand 
from our very cradle, His good things He has showered on us. 
Life's pathway has been strewn with gifts and blessings. Yet, 
what does He, the giver of all gifts, say ? One thing is needful. 
Shall not the giver judge the value of the gift f 

It is needful on account of what it cost — what it cost God. 
Let me enlarge on this a moment. I read our Father sendeth rain 
on the just and unjust. He giveth us richly all things to enjoy, 
but these gifts cost God (I speak with reverence) nothing. If from 
a bag miraculously rilled and kept full of gold, I were to scatter 
coins among this audience this night, you might praise my liberal- 
ity, but if, in order to bestow my bounty, I put myself to indis- 
cribable pain and anguish, you would indeed prize the gift. Yet 
how can anyone illustrate God's self-sacrificing love. This one 
thing needful cost God dear — cost a putting forth of His wisdom, 
power and love, of which we can have no idea whatever. Cost 
Him what was indiscribably dear to Him. Ah, we can go no 
further ! Cost Him Christ. 

One thing is needful on account of what it supplies to man. 
All other things fail at some time, in some way, and man cannot 
but be conscious of the failures. What is this, that in all circum- 
stances never fails ? Is it pardon for sin ? I answer no. Is it 
faith ? Certainly not. Is it a renewed heart ? No ! A promise of 
heaven ? More than that. Conversion ? More than that. Eternal 
life ? More even than that. The one thing needful includes all 
these as a purse holds coins within it — it is Christ. Not believing 
in Christ, or coming to Christ, but Christ Himself. All He is in 
Himself — all He has done for us, all He is doing. There is no 
antidote for the poison of sin save the blood of Christ ; no 
comfort in the hour of bereavement save the thought, "my 
loved one is not here, he is risen since Christ is raised;" no 
cure for loneliness and isolation, but the Redeemer's constant 
presence ; no victory over the fear of death but by faith in 
Him who has abolished it. For all these things, and many more 



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beside, earth or earthliness, with all the resources of pleasure, of 
science, or of philosophy at her disposal, can supply no remedy, 
no solace, and thus, strong in its adaption to the inexpressible 
needs and longings of the human heart, the gospel of Christ must 
outlive every form of scepticism. 

Christ life is needful to us. Why did He live those toilsome 
30 years — those years we know next to nothing about? I dare 
say there are some here to-night — some too, who love Jesus 
Christ, who could not supply a clear answer to that question. Let 
me answer it by asking another question. What have you been 
doing the last 30 years ? Let me fill the end of this tent with a 
gigantic black-board, and now come forward, not the vile sinner, 
but the man of purest life here ; and let the thoughts, the 
words, the deeds of his life be chalked down, not by any standard 
of human right and wrong, but from the standard by which we 
must all be tried — God's idea of right and wrong. Now, add to 
these all the thoughts he has not thought, words he has not said, 
deeds he has not done ; let the sins of omission be added to those 
of commission ; will the board contain the sum, think you ? That 
is the reason Christ lived 30 years without one taint of sin — be- 
cause I could not live a day, an hour — nay, could not draw a 
breath. 

But there is another reason for those thirty years. The whole 
history of God's revelation to man is the account of a sustained 
effort made in many different ways to convince man of his guilt 
on the one hand, to give him some idea of the righteousness God 
demands, and must have, on the other. For this the thunders 
of Sinai rolled, and the law was given as witnesses to this blood 
which flowed in streams round Jewish altars, while priests minis- 
tered and prophets preached. But these were not enough ; and so 
in these last days God, who at sundry times and in divers man- 
ners spake in times past unto the fathers, hath spoken to us by 
His Son. Those thirty years speak. They tell us in words so 
plain that misunderstanding is impossible, what God's standard of 
righteousness is. It is Christ. What life does God demand? 
Christ's, and any righteousness less complete, any life less holy 
God cannot, God never, never will accept. In plain English, un- 
less I am as holy as Christ is holy, in God's presence I can never 
stand. Now with what force comes home the truth — " One thing 
is needful." Can you lead, have you led, such a life as Christ's ? 
Not for a moment ; we are sane men here, not idiots ; we know 
we have not, and cannot. Then if you have only your own life to 
present, your own righteousness to stand before God in, most 
certainly you will be damned. Christ's life must be thine; 
Christ's righteousness must be wrapped around thee. The God 
of all grace, the long-suffering Father, bends over thee in love, 



ONE THING IS NEEDFUL. T9 

making thee the offer now. Say, sinners, wilt thou accept " the 
one thing needful?" 

But I need Christ's death as well as life. Why did He die? lean- 
not answer in better words, "He died the just for the unjust, to bring 
us to God." He took the sinner's place on earth under the wrath 
of eternal justice, that the sinner might take His place in Heaven 
amid the glory of eternal love. A little incident that happened 
some time ago illustrates this, if you will excuse its simplicity. 
A clergyman was speaking to the fishermen on the shore at a town 
in the east of England. His subject was justification, and he was 
trying to make plain to the men what Christ's work on the cross 
really was. At last he cried: ""Now will one of you tell me in 
you/ own words what the Lord Jesus did do there?" An old salt 
looked up, and with the tears streaming down his weather-beaten 
face, said "He swapped with me." Blessed be God, the old man 
had grasped the glorious truth of Christ's exchange with the sin- 
ner — yes, He did swap. "What an exchange it was. He took all 
our sins, so wrapping- them round Himself that, as an impenetra- 
ble veil, they shut out from Him the light of God. He took 
them, and by the sacrifice of Himself, cast them as a mighty 
mill-stone into the depths of the sea — there to be not only forgiven 
but, blessed be God, forgotten too. He took all the blows that I might 
have nothing but kisses. He took all the curse that we might 
have nothing but blessing. He took the sinner's sin that the sin- 
ner might take His righteousness. Oh man, Christ's death, as 
well as Christ's life, is the one thing needful for thee. 

So much for His past work. I cannot dwell long on His pre- 
sent work now. His interceding work — intercession for a lost 
world, as well as for a faulty, a forgetful, a sleeping, church. 

But this living, this dying, this interceding Christ is God's 
gift, freely offered to you. Accept Him, and Jesus then is no 
longer only one who has carried out for you the plan of redemp- 
tion, and is carrying on for you a constant mediation, but a 
living, increasing, conquering power within you, sweetly fulfill- 
ing day by day His promise : " I will live in them and move in 
them. I will be their God, they shall be my people," — not only a 
salvation vnthout you but a Saviour within. 

Again, I say, my brother, this one thing is needful. Nothing 
less can satisfy you. Oh, you say I am wrong ; you are satisfied. 
Nay, deep down in that heart of thine, so deep that you cannot 
see it, there is an empty spot — a corner unfilled — and Jesus longs 
to dwell there, that all the tendrils of your soul, as it were, 
might twine themselves round Him, that you should know no 
want which He cannot supply, have no care or joy apart from 
Him. Man, value thyself, for God values thee. Christ is need- 
ful to me a sinner, lecause 7", sinner as I am, am needful to 



80 UNDER CANVAS. 

Christ. Is not that a glorious truth ? I repeat it, for it is God's 
word, the eternal God wants Trie. He speaks so plainly to me in 
His word I cannot pretend to misunderstand, and says: I want thy 
companionship. I want you near me throughout all eternity, 
" that in the ages to come I may show you the exceeding riches 
of my grace in my kindness towards you by Christ Jesus." Not 
amid the seraph throng, nor the myriads of an unfallen angelic 
host, does God seek a companion. I well remember my feelings, 
when, as a lad of about fourteen, I heard my dear father say one 
day to a stranger : " Why, my son Willie is becoming quite a 
companion for me." Dear friends, I tell you I felt almost twice 
as big — almost a man. To-night God is leaning over us, and say- 
ing to each soul : " Poor sinner, I love thee. I gave Myself for 
thee. I want to make thee My companion." Listen to thine 
eternal Father. Where is the created intelligence that dare forego 
such a message. Listen, and thy poor sin-shrouded heart will 
open and swell with new begotten love. Does he love me ? then 
I love Him. Does He want my companionship ? then nothing 
less than that companionship shall satisfy me. He is my love, 
my heart, myself, my all. 

One last word as to how God gives this one thing needful. 
There is a sweet verse in the first chapter of James (the fifth). 
"He giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not." How 
different from men. Some, not many, give liberally once and 
again; others give, but somehow they never let one forget they have 
given, and that we are under a favor to them. So much depends 
on the way a thing is given, you know. I put it to you, children 
of God — does Jesus ever cease to give ? and, in giving, does He 
ever upbraid ? " All sentiment " sneers the man of the world. 
No, sir, it is not sentiment. Christ's giving and our receiving 
daily grace for daily need, is to the renewed nature as real a 
transaction as any you have undertaken to-day. Yes, He gives 
and does not upbraid in giving. You are bold enough now. You 
know it has not always been so. You, too, have had your unquiet 
hours ; times when God's finger seemed to touch your very soul. 
I pray that the hand of God may raise a very earthquake in that 
numbed conscience of yours to-night. Ah, then you vowed, 
promised over and over again that you would take this God to be 
your God. Sickness came; forgotten promises afresh renewed, 
or you came to the Lord's table for the first time ; you felt quite 
softened, or the north wind breath was suffered to invade your 
strong retreat. All gone now, feeling departed, vows broken, 
lie, lie, heaped on lie, falsehoods all entered in the book. Yes, 
He doth not upbraid, for He giveth liberally and upbraideth not. 

Friends, accept to-night God's proffered gift — the one thing 
needful — the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. 



CHAPTER IX. 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION 



4TH OF JULY ADDRESS, BY GENERAL HENRY EDWIN TREMAIN. 



In obedience to the requirements of the law, there was no 
preaching in the Gospel Tent on the evening of the 4th of July, 
but Centennial thanksgiving services were held in the morning, at 
which upwards of 1000 persons were present. They commenced 
with the singing of " America," followed by prayer ; after which 
the Declaration of Independence was read by the Rev. Stephen 
H. Tyng, jr., D.D. An original poem by Mr. Sanders, entitled 
" The Centennial Reunion," was spoken by the author, and after 
the singing of " Hold the Fort," the following address was de- 
livered by General Henry Edwin Tremain. 

ADDRESS. 

Ladies and Gentlemen — Four days ago I was drafted for 
this platform. It is your misfortune that substitutes are not 
allowed. Although unprepared to do justice to the occasion, I 
am grateful for the kind invitation of my reverend friend who is 
presiding. I am here as you are, to join in the general praise 
and thanksgiving going up from this people throughout our land. 
Let me crave your indulgence in a few remarks suggested by the 
day. 

In other and more appropriate places orators to-day will add 
to their own and their country's fame. To be unexpectedly en- 
trusted with the privilege of attempting expression on this plat- 
form of the sentiments that bring together this concourse of my 
fellow citizens, is an honor of which an orator might feel proud. 
It dismays an untutored speaker. But your kind favor, sympa- 



82 UNDER CANVAS. 

thizing looks, the time, the place, assure me that it is less the 
grace of the rhetorician than the language of the heart which is 
expected from me. I understand other speakers will follow, 
whose eloquence will command your attention. 

The associations here are those of love — love of God ; love of 
man. Henceforth is blended with these the love of country. Wh 
is untouched by this affection ? I see it illumine every face. I 
think I hear the united pulsations of your hearts throbbing back 
the message, " Yes, I love my country." 

To the American people this is the day of a year, the year of 
a century. To-day the civilized world reflects upon the century 
of all history ; the nation of all centuries. From year to year 
this nation gives a passing day to the contemplation of its civic 
existence and material progress. But, in the language of the 
President of the United States, this year " seems to demand 
an exceptional observance." So the successor of Washington has 
by formal proclamation invited " the good people of the United 
States in addition to the usual observances with which they are 
accustomed to greet the return of this day, further in such man- 
ner and at such time as in their respective localities and religious 
associations may be most convenient, to mark its recurrence by 
some public, religious and devout thanksgiving to Almighty God 
for the blessings which have been bestowed upon us as a nation 
during the century of our existence, and humbly to invoke a con- 
tinuance of His favor and His protection." 

The sun does not shine this morning upon a citizen of the 
North, or of the South, of the East, or of the West, who does 
not rejoice in the inheritance of the glories and the benefits of 
the dying century. We are ending one century and beginning 
another. We may look back, but it is not given us to survey the 
future. One hundred years ago our fathers looked back, but it 
was not given to them to survey the future. Not only on this 
side of the Atlantic, but the world Over, the past has been a most 
remarkable century. Empires, dynasties, kingdoms and republics 
have been made and unmade ; weak nations have grown strong, 
and strong ones have become feeble. Rich and prosperous 
countries have become richer and more prosperous ; while wars, 
pestilence and famine have been visited upon many a happy 
people. 

The political geography of Europe has been kaleidoscopic, 
and all the grand and sordid motives of human action have also 
left their traces on the maps of Asia, Africa and the Western 
hemisphere. Good and great men, yea, and good and great 
women have lived and died and left their impress. Human 
thought has sought to learn the earth, the sea, and all that is 
therein. The heavens and the worlds beyond have been drawn 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 83 

upon for man's emolument ; the air, the winds, the sky, the clouds 
have been mapped and marshalled for man's convenience ; con- 
tinents have been spanned ; mountains undermined ; the sea 
commanded to whisper our thoughts ; and achievements perfected 
by man's ingenuity, skill and science that challenge past and 
future centuries for a parallel. Shall we not rejoice in these 
gifts and indulgences of our time ? 

We need not settle the question whether this age is better, 
higher, nobler, richer and purer than its predecessors. We take 
it as we find it. It is our age. 

We may feel its thorns ; but we see its flowers, we gather 
its honey, we partake of its fruit, we are saturated with its at- 
mosphere ; our bodies are chained to its influence, and whatever 
be its evils, its life and benefits belong essentially to us. We live 
in it ; we help to make it ; we are responsible for it. Who has 
any sympathy with those social, religious, or political fretters, 
who are always denouncing the sad times in which they live, 
condemning the present, hopelessly yearning for the return of the 
good old days of some imaginary past, and warning their neigh- 
bors of a coming destruction ? 

I would not argue with you what kind of an age this has been. 
Most people prefer their own spectacles. 

Should it be said that this is an age of peace — illustrated by 
Geneva, International Congress and Arbitrations, some one will 
reply it is an age of war ; that there have been more great wars 
in this century than its decades, and that thrice as many great 
historical battles occurred in this than in the previous century. 

If I said that it is an age of gold, another may reply that it is 
an age of brass. If one says it is an age of brains, another will 
assert it is an age of muscle. If one proclaims it is an age of 
worship, another will say it is an age of infidelity. If one says it 
is an age of art, another will claim it is an age of machinery. If 
one asserts it is an age of justice, the reply will come, it is an age 
of corruption. If you speak of it as an age of letters, some dis- 
appointed author will answer it is an age of books. If it be 
termed an age of learning, the response will come, it is an age of 
ignorance. Call it an age of iron, another will name it an age of 
straw. Say it is an age of republics, and you will be pointed to 
the spread of empires, the revolution of South America, and the 
newly-created Empress of India. It is all of no import. Agree- 
ment or disagreement ; what matters it % Let one say it is an age 
of concord, another that it is an age of dissention ; nevertheless, 
we will all, with one accord and one voice, unite to-day in stamp- 
ing this concluding century with the everlasting title of The 
American Age. (Applause.) 

Few years in this American age are more replete with inter- 



84: UNDEE CANVAS. 

est than the year 1776. It is not only famous for the immortal 
Declaration of Independence, just read to us ; but it has witness- 
ed man's faith and spirits sorely tried, social bonds severed, politi- 
cal animosities relaxed, and principles of agreement strengthened, 
as the magnitude of the task undertaken by the colonists was 
opened to their view. 

When in the spring of 1776 the British withdrew from Bos- 
ton, it was indeed a military success for the colonists. But the 
long period of comparative inactivity of our forces after the bat- 
tle of Bunker Hill, while the small army was being organized, 
had occasioned no little restlessness among troops not trained to 
the habits of regular soldiers. When that army was therefore 
brought to New York to resist the threatened attack of Howe, it 
was by no means the appropriate material to cope with the well- 
appointed and disciplined British troops. Discontent, distrust, 
open and covert hostility to the plans of the continentalists, the 
lack of money and military resources, gave to the Congress and 
Washington's army a peculiar and difficult task. Illicit cor- 
respondence between the enemies within our lines and the armed 
forces without, was of no little injury to the cause in New York. 
The Mayor of the city was detected and imprisoned ; and the 
plot to seize the Commander-in-Chief, and to carry him a prisoner 
to the British ships lying in the harbor was so thoroughly plan- 
ned that one of Washington's body-guard, corrupted into the 
scheme, was tried and shot for his participation in the affair. In 
no part of the confederacy was the English party more influen- 
tial than in the city of New York and its neighborhood. With 
the little army of scarcely eight thousand men, it was not only a 
difficult, but, as events proved, an impossible task to defend the 
city, or to operate against the forces ready to be precipitated upon it. 

Confident in their own strength, and the friendly co-operation 
of their numerous adherents throughout the colony, the English 
commanders occupied Staten Island, rode their ships at ease in 
our bay, and took their own time to advance. Landing on Long- 
Island, just below the Narrows, they encountered the Continental 
forces occupying the hills beyond Brooklyn in one of the most un- 
equal and to the revolutionists disastrous battles of the war. 

Had the victors pushed their success with that vigor which is a 
characteristic of modern military skill, the career of Washington 
might have been ended, and his little army captured or destroyed. 
But with the caution, fashionable in that day in military opera- 
tions, and not diminished by the experience of Bunker Hill, the 
battle closed without a last grand vigorous assault, such as was 
made by the South at Getty sourg, or by the North at Winchester ; 
and the English went into camp and made preparations for " regu- 
lar approaches." The colonists were reinforced, and, to all outward 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 85 

appearances, another desperate battle was at hand. But in a 
night the Continental army was prudently withdrawn across the 
river, and Long Island was in undisputed control of the enemy. 

If Washington, on the night he retreated, had had one of the 
Fulton ferry boats of the present day, this masterly movement 
might not have gone down to history as one of the splendid 
achievements of his generalship. 

Then came the serious question of holding New York City, 
and the effect of its possible fall upon the cause of the colonists. 
It has been said, " councils of war never fight ;" and the two 
councils of his generals called by Washington in respect to the 
f urther defence of New York were no exception. The officers 
seem to have been nearly unanimous in the opinion that New 
York would have to be abandoned, and their military judgment 
was, in this instance, undoubtedly correct. Washington thanked 
Congress for reposing in his judgment, and enforced his own 
opinion by explaining to that body that the enemy by getting in 
our rear, and " by cutting off all communication with the main," 
would " oblige us to force a passage through them on the terms 
they wish, or to become prisoners in some short time, for want of 
necessary supplies of provisions." 

The evacuation was precipitated by the landing of the British 
at Kipp's Bay (near Thirty-fourth street, East River). The 
American troops there posted tied panic-stricken, evoking 
from Washington, it is said, when he failed to rally them, the 
passionate exclamation, " Are these the men with which I am to 
defend America?" 

The fate of the city was decided, and Putnam, in com- 
mand of what is now "down town," barely escaped with his 
troops up the Greenwich road. 

Then came that brilliant little engagement called the Battle 
of Harlem Plains (near the present Manhattanville), where the 
British were successfully fought in open field, and by which the 
morale of the American army seems to have been completely re- 
stored. It is wonderful how a little success sometimes affects the 
great campaign of life. 

When our army withdrew in its own good time into West- 
chester, it was a body of men that General Howe was justly cau- 
tious in approaching. It was a sturdy band, led by spirits who 
knew no such word as fail. It was the nucleus of that immortal army 
that for five more long and bloody years followed the standards 
of Washington to the final surrender at Yorktown. This was 
the last seen of the Continental troops in this city during the war; 
so that in a local point of view, the year 1776 is an eventful 
one. We should to-day remember those who were with that little 
army in New York. The faithful Knowlton (killed . at Harlem 



86 UNDER CANVAS. 

Plains,) and Knox, Greene, Clinton, Leitch, Sullivan, McDougal 
and Hamilton, were worthy followers of their great commander. 

Meanwhile, the political horizon was being cleared. The great 
declaration had been launched. It was not fashioned in a day ; 
nor can it be said to be the work of one mind. It was the pro- 
duct of time and of events. It was not framed under whip and 
spur as a mere manifesto. It did not issue as the inception of a 
grand political movement merely to attract or to encourage ad- 
herents ; nor was it the proclamation of a victorious party re- 
joicing at the successful conclusion of its campaign. 

It is not discreditable to our conception of the great char- 
acters who participated in the struggles of that period, to regard 
this instrument as the embodiment of the collective determina- 
tion and deliberative wisdom of the selected leaders of public 
opinion. 

It came more than a year after Bunker Hill, and when there 
was every indication of a long and stubborn attempt on the part 
of the home Government to enforce its authority by arms. 

It was not a sudden conclusion, as when a great general 
changes at a critical moment his plan of battle. 

In 1774 the Continental Congress had voted a " Declaration 
of Colonial Rights," which if it did not suggest the topics cer- 
tainly outlined some features of the grand declaration adopted 
two years later. 

The same Congress prepared petitions to the King, memorials 
to the home Government, and to neighboring colonies, which 
carefully set forth the entire political situation. Every measure 
was most deliberately undertaken. 

" Every man in this assembly," then wrote John Adams, to 
his wife from the Continental Congress, " is a great man, an orator, 
a critic, therefore every man upon every question must show his 
oratory, his criticism, and his political abilities. The consequence 
is that business is spun out to an immeasurable length." This 
might not be an untruthful description of a Congress of the 
present day. 

The colonists were everywhere determined to maintain their 
rights, but all their official declarations breathed attachment to 
Great Britain and loyalty to peace and order. The repeal of the 
Parliamentary acts in derogation of colonial rights, and the dis- 
continuance of military preparations were,: however, firmly insisted 
upon. 

In all the provinces the colonial authorities were as concilia- 
tory in their addresses as they were firm and constant in their 
provisions for defence. But the difference between the English 
officers and colonial assemblies were so great, that the govern- 
ment of the latter were feeble. Their public affairs lacked force 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 87 

and stability. The colonial assemblies advised the Continental 
Congress while the Congress advised the colonial assemblies. 
There was no competent executive authority ; and in this chaotic 
condition of affairs, the statesmen of that day were obliged to 
frame new governments. Every colony thus had its own task 
and sought to build on its own foundation. 

What then was more natural after a year or two of such ex- 
perience, while the country was on the brink of a long war, with 
no prospect of peace, than that the new governments should em- 
body a thorough and complete reconstruction of colonial affairs. 
This was indeed more convenient. True statesmanship is always 
practical. Thus the recommendations for independence followed 
in the natural order of events, and assumed formal shape in May, 
1776. Congress then declared that " all the powers of govern- 
ment should be exerted under authority from the people of the 
colonies." When in June it was formally moved in the Congress 
that the " United Colonies are, and ought to be, free and inde- 
pendent States ; " there was a long and important debate. Even 
on July first but nine colonies voted for the declaration, and by 
the Fourth of July, when the final vote was taken, New York 
alone declined to vote. The delegates of the future Empire State 
were prudent statesmen ; and intended that when New York 
moved forward, there should be no power to turn her backward. 
(Applause.) 

A few days afterward the Provisional Assembly of New York 
gave its instructions, and on the ninth of July the final sanction of 
New York was given to what then become the unanimous act of 
the thirteen United States. 

We celebrate the Fourth, because that is the day the authori- 
tative vote was taken, and the document itself dated. You may 
celebrate its unanimity on the ninth of July ; and as it was not 
finally engrossed and completely signed until the second of 
August, the thoroughly patriotic will continue their celebration 
until the second of next month. (Laughter and applause.) 

We do not celebrate then the act of a day ; we co mm emorate 
a period of great events ; we recall political and social emergen- 
cies, and perceive how the leading thinkers, statesmen and soldiers 
of that period dealt with those emergencies. 

We take the Declaration of Independence as a mere exponent. 
It ushered a new nation among the nations. It is an epitome of 
the times. It was, and is and always will be a moral power in 
American polity. But it was not enough to run a government 
upon. Having a door plate does not give a man a family, a gen- 
eral's commission does not give him troops. The next year the 
"articles of confederation and perpetual union" as well as a 
national flag, were adopted. But it was not until ten years later 



88 UNDER CANVAS. 

that our Constitution emergea from the ordeal that fashioned it. 

This Constitution with its fifteen amendments is the great 
political instrument of the century. Upon it nearly twice as many 
States have been fashioned as originally participated in its construc- 
tion. To it the statesmen of two continents have been accustomed 
to turn for inspiration. From it the government of every civi- 
lized country has drawn political philosophy ; and to its genial 
and comprehensive influence and irrefragible power, a prosperous 
and happy people confide their security and welfare. 

Perfect or imperfect, it is an inheritance of the century, and 
if it is not in our power to improve it before handing it to our 
successors, let us at least take care that it be not marred in our 
service. (Applause.) 

Whether or not it will be harmed by the guarantee that all 
voters may be educated and public schools sustained, we, as citi- 
zens, may be called upon to determine. (Applause.) 

So vital and extensive are the interests affected by a vote, and 
so unrestricted by educational or property interests has the suf- 
frage grown, that many anxious minds distrust the future. 
Against the combinations of mobs, the prejudices of creeds, of 
ignorance, of corruption, and the evils of extreme partizanship 
there is no better protection than the intelligence of the citizen. 

Let the word then go forth on this Centennial that your 
schools and colleges and academies shall be multiplied, your 
universities extended. Why should not also your churches be 
thrown open daily, and become centres of elevating influence and 
beneficent instruction ? (Applause.) If they are useful one day 
in the week, they would be seven times as useful then. This 
may not be the highest ground to place it upon. It is a view of 
a citizen. 

But I have already detained you too long. It is natural for 
a native New Yorker to take pride in .New York's Centennial. 
It is difficult, after the success of last night's celebration, to 
believe that New York is only two hundred and sixty-four years 
old ; that two hundred and fifty years ago it had but about twenty 
log houses, with a block house for defence, and that the whole 
island sold for twenty-four dollars. It must be of interest to old 
residents to know that this sum, at compound interest to the 
present time is about equal to the city debt, although it seems 
impossible to speak of that debt as a known quantity. (Laughter.) 
The difference, however, is that the price of Manhattan Island 
was actually paid in wampum currency, whereas it is doubtful if 
the city debt will ever be extinguished in any currency at all. 
Yet, the New Yorker is justly proud of his city. He remembers 
that the first post office in the United States was established here, 
and now you show the stranger a grand post office that will hold 



CENTENNIAL CELEBRATION. 89 

the New Court House in its garret and save money by the 
operation. He remembers that a Colonial Congress first met in 
New York eleven years before the independence declaration ; 
that the first President was inaugurated here ; that the first Con- 
gress under the Constitution was here convened ; and that to-day 
New York City is the radiating centre of activity, influence, 
industry and benevolence. 

Morally, financially, socially and politically tins community 
must account for this responsibility. Every man and every 
woman must render their share of accountability. Let it not be 
said at our next Centennial that New York struck boldly forward 
in the march of human progress for a short time, and then grew 
callous and fell behind — to suffer, to linger, and to die. 

No, as the nation moves forward, onward, upward, let this 
people advance in greatness and in goodness. Not haltingly, nor 
yet with hand alone ; nor with head alone ; but with hands, with 
head, and with heart in the full power of your manhood and of 
your womanhood labor in your field. 

" Brother, waste no time in hoping 

For some greater work to do ; 
Fortune is a lazy goddess, 

She will never come to you. 
Go and toil in any vineyard, 

Do not fear to do or dare, 
If yon want a field of labor 

Yon can find it anywhere." 

(Loud applause.) 



A vote of thanks proposed by the Rev. Dr. Tyng, jr., and 
seconded by the Rev. John Johns of the Thirty-fourth street 
Methodist Church,was unanimously accorded to General Tremain, 
and after the singing of the Coronation Hymn the benediction 
was pronounced. 



CHAPTER X. 



TOUCHING JESUS, 



SERMON BY THE REV. L. G. BARRETT, OF THE BEREAN BAPTIST CHURCH, 
ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 5TH, 1876. 



25. And a certain woman, which had an issue of blood twelve years, 

26. And had suffered many things of many physicians, and had spent all 
that she had, and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse, 

27. When she had heard of Jesus, came in the press behind, and touched His 
garment. 

28. For she said, If I may touch but His clothes, I shall be whole. — Mark v. 

We are in Capernaum, so full of the works of Christ. The 
Saviour has left Levi's house and the great feast, at the call of 
anxious Jairus. As He walks, thronging crowds press Him and 
impede His progress. This delay, however, is the long sought and 
blessed opportunity of a poor, suffering woman. Twelve weary 
years has she groaned with disease — her very touch pollution, 
her all wasted upon physicians, her agony only aggravated. Hear- 
ing of the great Healer — perhaps Simon's wife's mother brought 
her the news — she dares to hope she may yet be cured. Timidity, 
however, and sense of shame prevent her openly visiting Jesus 
and personally imploring His aid. Perhaps unseen she may 
approach Him, — touch His robe as He passes by. At 
length, learning His presence in the city, the sufferer leaves 
her humble home, threads the city's narrow lanes, and stands 
in the midst of the great, eager crowd, pallid and weak, but 
anxious and determined — this very throng her golden hour. On 
she presses among the people, undaunted by their astonishment or 
chiding, oblivious to all surroundings, one idea possessing her — 
on — on — until she nears the wonderful man, and now by a bold, 
quick reach touches and actually grasps the fringed border of His 
cloak. Blessed touch ! Suffering, sorrow, years of lingering death 
all gone ! Enough — she will no further trouble the Teacher. Let 
the unknowing throng pass on. But stay ! the Master turns ; 
" Who touched my clothes ?" Peter, in astonishment, points to 
the press of the multitude. The woman trembles, looks up, meets 
the searching but loving eye of Jesus. He has seen her ! and, 
overflowing with gratitude, regardless of public gaze, the better 
of all her womanly shrinkings, she falls at her Deliverer's feet, 



TOUCHING JESUS. 91 

and, in unrestrained emotion, tells Him all her joy. The blessing 
is magnified: "Daughter, be of goo 5 comfort; thy faith hath 
made thee whole ; go in peace." 

Touching Jesus is our thought, and we notice: 

I. Touching Jesus is touching God. When this poor sufferer 
touched Jesus, health instantly pulsated through every vein, 
though expensive years had been given to human skill in 
vain. But it brought also spiritual life. As with the para- 
lytic let down through the roof into His presence, when 
Jesus said: " Be of good cheer ; thy sins be forgiven thee;" as 
with the impotent man at Bethesda's pool, to whom the word was, 
" Thou art made whole; sin no more;" as with the woman whose 
devotion brought the blessed response, "Her sins, which are 
many, are forgiven;" so with this anxious one, her's was a soul- 
cure as well. 

But such healing comes only from God, even by the verdict 
of Christ's own enemies, in this same city, on the cure of the 
palsied man, when they exclaim : " Who can forgive sins but 
God only?" 

Behold, then, a blessed and wonderful truth. In Jesus Christ 
human need and helplessness and Divine power and mercy meet. 
In touching Him we touch the great God. Before Christ came, 
Jehovah was unknown, save as symbolled by type, sacrifice, priest. 
To the Jew, trembling under Divine requirements and threats, 
the very name Jehovah was inconceivably grand. It must not be 
spoken. God dwelt in awful majesty; His more glorious 
presence, shrouded and concealed by the splendid vestment of a 
most gorgeous ceremonial, unseen, unapproached. Only over an 
avenue of blood to the Holy of Holies could approach to Him be 
even symbolled. Only through the blaze and thunder of Sinai 
could His voice be heard, and, even then, death fell upon every 
soul but God's own priests that dared touch the border of His 
holy mount. And what has been heathenism, but this dis- 
tancing of God, countless idols dimly mirroring Him, and cruel 
and costly penance and sacrifice dreaming of reaching Him ! 
And Romanism, what has she done but perpetuate and magnify 
the idea of a distant, awful and unreachable Jehovah ! But 
Jesus comes, the God-man, " image of God," yet " likeness of 
men ; " " who made all things," yet, " in the form of a servant ;" 
" Lord of all," yet " obedient unto death ; " pardoner of sin, yet 
" tempted in all points like as we;" "mighty God," yet " bone 
of our bone and flesh of our flesh;" " Alpha and Omega, begin- 
ning and end, first and last," yet "man of sorrows and acquaint- 
ed with grief," bringing down God into humanity and lifting 
humanity up to God, thus bridging the hitherto impassable gulf, 
so that in Him, the way, the truth and the life, distance is anni- 



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hilated, the cloud of fire, big with the lightnings and thunder of 
His awfulness, is scattered, and " we have access unto the Father" 
Himself; yea, "made nigh through His blood," can come with 
holy " boldness and confidence " in filial love, and talk with and 
behold the very face of our God. In touching Jesus, the God- 
man, we touch Jehovah. 

What, then ? We touch One to help and save, as did the poor 
woman of our text. As sent the Messiah to John : " The blind 
see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead 
are raised up." In Jesus Christ, " the God with us," diseased 
humanity can find an antidote and deliverance, for this perfecting 
of humanity in God means that sin and its terrible consequences 
are slain, that death is robbed of his sting, that Hell and Satan 
are chained within the dungeons of darkness, and that forever. 
No longer, then, poor sinner, tremble under condemnation before 
an awful and angry and distant God. Come to the loving, 
human, pleading Jesus, touch Him for your infirmity, and know 
that in touching Him you are touching the very source Himself 
of mercy and life. The price is all paid, the door is wide open. 
Come, dear child of God, nearer, nearer to this blessed Jesus, — 
with whatever of darkness or sin, under never so heavy burden of 
affliction and sorrow, — come, even if you can only touch the hem 
of His garment, for, be assured, you thus draw near to and touch 
the great God, your heavenly Father. 

And can you not touch Jesus? You might well despair, 
must you approach the all-holy and infinite God, just as He is, in 
all His bold and awful purity and power. But Jesus — the human 
Jesus, who is " touched with the feeling of our infirmity," and 
moves on the same plane with you, knowing every grief of your 
soul, " bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh," — surely, you 
can approach Him, confide in and love Him, and even as a bro- 
ther ! Touch Him, then, oh ! so quickly, but not as man only, but 
as the Almighty Pardoner, Sanctifier and Redeemer of the sinner. 

II. Touching Jesus is touching overflowing mercy. 

Fill a glass with water, till it piles above the brim and can hold 
no more ; the slightest jar causes its overflow. The moment the 
atmosphere attains a certain measure of moisture, the overplus de- 
scends in refreshing dew or rain. Travellers assert that, among 
the upper Alps, such is the superabundance of snow, and so del- 
icate its dependence, sometimes the vibrations of the air caused 
by a shout, will, by starting small particles, and these others, and 
so on, result far down the mountain in a thundering avalanche. 
Let such fullness and superabundance liken the measure of Divine 
love. Here is a bottomless and boundless ocean. God is love. 
God is infinite love ; and this infinite God so loved this lost world 
— world that was revelling in awful rebellion against Him — that 



TOUCHING JESUS. 93 

He gave — what ?— His own Son — the best and supremest offering 
possible to an infinite G od ! Nor can we have even a human con- 
ception of this love, till we pass with the wrestling Christ those 
forty days' conflict in the wilderness, gather the blood drops of 
agony in Gethsemane, and look upon the pierced form and hear 
the dying groan of Calvary. " His mercy endureth forever." 
His is love unspeakable and past finding out ; and it is great and 
so free, that " whosoever will " — every sinner before me — may ex- 
perience its precious richness. Yea, the blessed Jesus, overflow- 
ing in mercy and healing through the border of His robe, 
in Capernaum's street, at the touch of a poor, trembling suppliant, 
truly and beautifully images God — this God of love. 

And a touch can bring this overflow of mercy, simply a touch ! 
Archimedes, with sufficient leverage, would move the world. One 
touch in faith by the trembling sinner of the robe of the passing 
Jesus moves the eternal God ! No thunder need voice our wants. 
No costly offering of gold must open to His presence. No 
wings of the morning are necessary to waft us to His distant 
dwelling place. No sanctuary is necessary, no minister, no 
bended knee even, no eloquent words of address, nor any form 
whatever. He waits to catch our humble cry. So near is He, 
He feels the very pulsations of our heart. Our own poor, broken 
wails for relief, our sighs, our yearnings even, human and imper- 
fect but real, sent up in the silent hour, amid daily care, from out 
the agony of sorrow, through the darkness of dying even, but in 
penitence and need — these can touch the God of all mercy. 

Oh ! the simplicity of the blessed Gospel ! Why will the 
sinner agonize through years of condemnation, heaping up wrath 
against the day of wrath, striving by terrible self -accusations and 
long petitions to commend himself to God, and almost despair- 
ing of mercy, when one heart-touch of Jesus can fill him with 
joy ! Not for our much speaking does God hear us. We bring- 
no worth to Him. It is the Lamb of Golgotha, the blood of the 
everlasting covenant, that is the price of our redemption. And 
one look at the Crucified, however trembling, from howsoever 
hardened a heart, in true penitence and faith, is all God asks ! 
Yea, the first simple heart-reach toward Him, as a Saviour of a 
lost soul, actually touches the springs of mercy, and sends eternal 
life pulsating through every avenue of our being ! 
" Prayer is the burden of a sigh, 
The falling of a tear, 
The upward glancing of an eye, 
When none but God is near." 

" Before they call, I will answer ; and while they are yet 
speaking, I will hear." 

Oh! sinner, never forget this abounding mercy of God, and 
that He waits, longs to give it you. And remember that the 



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human, tender, sympathizing Jesus is this God of infinite mercy. 
And finally, that by one earnest, penitent, all-surrendering groan 
for help, you actually touch and possess eternal life. 

III. Touching Jesus is believing jesus. 

Old Augustine said of this miracle : " She touches, the crowd 
presses." So does Jesus' question imply. All around Him pres- 
ses and jostles the crowd, yet He notices it not — somebody 
touches Him. Anxious Jairus pleads with a father's agonizing 
heart for haste, ere his dear child die. Yet, even Jairus moves 
Him not — somebody touches Him. There is many a longing 
sufferer in that throng, come for mercy, and they all press hard 
to arrest His attention. Yet, whoever they are, of halt or blind 
or dumb, or sick, however anxious and needy, still He notices them 
not, for some one has touched Him, and turning about as He asks 
the question, He fixes His eye upon a trembling, weak and impov- 
erished woman at His side, who, though despised of men and con- 
demned of God, is the one, sole being of all that throng that is 
near enough to touch Him and receive a blessing. 

" Now," says the lost sinner, who can find eternal life only 
by touching Christ, " what was that touch ?" Let me tell you. It 
was not the pitiful extremity of the woman, nor her nearness to 
Jesus' person, nor her eager grasp of His cloak that brought 
mercy. Oh, no ! others were just as near and as needy. But 
her's was the touch of faith. As with the Syro-phoenician 
woman, agonizing for her daughter, willing to take a crumb of 
mercy, when Jesus said, " O, woman, great is thy faith \ Be it 
unto thee, even as thou wilt;" as with blind Bartimeus, at 
Jericho's wayside, who, hearing that Jesus of Nazareth drew near, 
sprang to his feet, flung aside his old, ragged cloak, and stumbled 
as best he could to Jesus, exclaiming, " Lord, that I might re- 
ceive my sight !" to whom Jesus said, " Receive thy sight ; thy 
faith hath saved thee." As with these and every recipient of 
mercy, so with this woman, " and He said unto her, Daughter, 
thy faith hath made thee whole." 

We cannot, then, touch God but by faith. Oh, how the great 
throng merely press against Jesus ! Multitudes call upon Him, 
but never touch Him in real faith. Men even claim to prophesy 
in His name, whose very words show a vital oneness with 
the vicarious Atoner impossible. Yast multitudes are hoping 
somehow to receive His salvation, whose whole lives are but liv- 
ing blasphemy of His holy name, and whom Jesus Himself as 
distinctly disowns as it were possible to do. Oh ! how deceived ! 
Merely pressing against the Christ, as He passes by ! To touch 
Him is to believe Him — is to fall at His feet in deep submis- 
sion, and for dear life, in complete faith in loving mercy, and 
actually grasp and hold a real Saviour. It is to receive Christ 



TOUCHING JESU6. 95 

into the heart, into a sin-lost and guilty heart, in true penitence 
and perfect surrender, as the only, complete, God-manifest 
Saviour of a sin-condemned and death-appointed race. It is to 
hang with the dying malefactor in the helplessness of death, and 
out of that extremity in perfect trust exclaim: "Lord, remember 
me I" Christ is not a mere example ; He is a Saviour. Man is 
not merely diseased ; he is lost. And without a faith that accepts 
Him as the Divine-human atonement, and implies godly sorrow 
for sin, complete submission of heart, and identification of life 
with the holy Jesus, never, never can the sinner touch a life-im- 
parting God. He that believeth, saved ; he that believeth not, 
damned. A true and a false touch of Christ — one that looks to 
a mere historical Christ, and that trusts Divine goodness to the 
denial of His justice ; and another that accepts the God-man as 
the lost sinner's complete sacrifice, and, in absolute dependence, 
rests upon Him. Which touch, dear soul, has been yours ? 

IY. — Touching Jesus is confessing jesus. 

Why Jesus' searching question ? Not from ignorance, surely. 
Not to rebuke a poor, trembling suppliant. Rather, it was to 
lead the woman into the completest blessing possible to hei\ Im- 
pelled by strong faith, and by a fancy that, in some mysterious 
way, healing would follow any contact with His person, she had 
touched His garment and been cured ; and now she sought re- 
treat, keeping her joy and blessing to herself, feeling the super- 
stitious element in her otherwise perfect faith, and refusing Jesus 
the honor of her cure. But this spirit must be rebuked, and the 
people must know Him as her healer. Hence that searching 
gaze and those heart-thrilling words, revealing His knowledge of 
her cure, and compelling humble, grateful confession of her Lord 
and God. " And when the woman saw that she was not hid, she 
came trembling, and, falling down before Him, she declared unto 
Him, before all the people, for what cause she had touched Him, 
and how she was healed immediately." 

Ileal touch of Christ by any soul must always be a confession. 
He will allow no stolen mercy. Jesus loves that soul that is not 
ashamed of Him. Once He healed ten lepers, when only one re- 
turned and gave God glory. But this one got a blessing lost by 
all the others, for He said to him, " Thy faith hath made thee 
whole." Christ assumed the deepest humiliation for us, and the 
disciple must not be above his Lord. Ah ! the confessing dis- 
ciple Jesus loves; blind Bartimeuses, that follow Him in the 
way, praising God ; Samaritan women, who, having found Him at 
the well, go into the city saying, " Come see a man that hath told 
me all things that ever I did; is not this the Christ ?" Yes, con- 
fessing women ! For, if one call is greater than another to-day, 
it is that for earnest, high-souled, cultivated, Christian women, 



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who, beholding their sisterhood lost in intemperance and vice in 
Christian lands, and sunk in revolting heathenism in other lands, 
shall consecrate themselves to God and humanity, and go forth 
anywhere and everywhere to redeem woman. 

Believer in Jesus, are you confessing Him ? Have you made 
open profession of your new-found joy ? As a soldier of Christ, 
do you wear the uniform, and further, do you wield the sword ? 
Depend upon it, this is the Divine law. You may ignore it ; 
you may think to hide out of Christ's sight in the crowd. Im 
possible ! Christ is watching you ; He owns you ; He will have 
you. And suddenly He will reveal to you His ownership and your 
dependence, by some terrible affliction that shall make you fly 
to Him for refuge. It is dangerous to hide your light. " Ye 
are my witnesses." " Lovest thou me ? Feed my sheep," — " con- 
fess me, preach me everywhere in this lost world." Oh ! disciple 
of Christ, let this motto be in your heart, your home, your ledger 
and on your gold, consecrating all to Him : " Unto Him that 
loved us and washed us from our sins." For if we confess Him, 
He will confess us, but if we deny Him, He will deny us in that 
last day. 

ISTor let the sinner ever dream of touching Christ and finding 
life, until he is willing, if need be, to be known as a seeker and a 
disciple anywhere and by anybody. All pride must be slain and 
Christ must be all and in all. 



And thus the woman of Capernaum touched Jesus. And so 
has many another sufferer. Over in Cana a proud nobleman 
touched Him for his dying son. In a little Galilean village an 
unclean leper cries : " Lord, thou canst make me clean," and 
touches Christ. Down at Bethesda's Fool an impotent man 
succeeds in touching Him. At Jericho's gate blind Bartimeus 
feels after and touches Him. Out in Galilee a withered hand 
touches Him. On the Cross a dying malefactor touches Him. 
Oh ! God's mercy in Christ ! A Magdalen, a Nicodemus, a Saul, 
a Judson, a Bunyan and countless others. 

And many a soul has kept touching Him — clinging to Him 
for dear life, amid temptations, burdens and deaths, the only, 
ever-present and Almighty Helper. 

You can touch Him, poor soul, however bowed down with sin 
and despair, you can touch the God of all grace in Jesus Christ. 
Indeed, ever has God been touching you, through countless mer- 
cies, terrible providences, a convicting conscience, trying to give 
you His love. Touch Him then ! Oh ! touch Him now, for as 
with Bartimeus of old, as with this anxious woman of our text, 
He is already passing by, and if you/ail to reach forth and touch 
Him, it may be forever too late. 



CHAPTER XI. 



GREAT SALVATION 



SERMON BY THE REV, WILLIAM LLOYD, OF THE WASHINGTON SQUARE 
M. E. CHURCH, ON THURSDAY, JULY 6TH, 1876. 



" How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation ? " — Hebrews ii. 3. 

In nothing does the greatness of the Apostle Paul's mind more 
impress us than in the fact, that the epistle to the Hebrews, the 
actual authorship of which has been and is still matter of doubt, 
should be so generally ascribed to him. Whether written by Luke 
or Apollos, it is so decidedly Pauline in its doctrine, argument and 
spirit, that the writer, if not Paul himself, was thoroughly im- 
pregnated with the great Apostle's thoughts. I have often com- 
pared this epistle, in the grandeur of its subjects, with the majes- 
tic flow and fullness of its style, to a magnificent river, rolling 
through a country of wondrous scenic beauty, now gliding 
gently by a scene of charming quiet, the river's breast 
of blue, necked with water lilies, looking like an embroidery 
of gold and green upon an azure ground ; then sweeping swiftly 
between towering mountains, which throw their heavy shadows 
upon the water, while here and there some rifts in the mountain 
side afford glimpses into far-stretching vales, suggestive 
of still greater charms. Suddenly a bend in the river brings 
us into an open space, and into the presence of a scene of 
such surpassing sublimity, that we involuntarily feel all that 
preceded was but a fit prelude to the glory upon which the 
eye now rests. 

So we pass down this broad stream of Pauline eloquence, 
which sets forth the great salvation God has wrought for our 



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race. A salvation in its inception reaching far back into the dim 
past ; its grandeur flashing through ancient prophets and seers, 
as we have seen the sunlight flash upon some mountain peak ; 
flowing on until it is seen in the incarnation and life of our Lord 
Jesus Christ. 

Then as we see it completed in His death, sealed by His res- 
urrection ; and as we follow Him in His ascension, while 
Heaven's gates roll open wide to let the mighty Saviour in, and 
the voice of Deity is heard saying : " Sit thou on my right hand, 
until I make thine enemies thy footstool ; " — before the grandeur 
of such salvation we stand entranced, and break the silence only 
to exclaim with Paul : "How shall we escape, if we neglect so great 
salvation f which, at the first, began to be spoken by the Lord, 
and was confirmed unto us by them that heard Him." 

Firstly, I will speak upon the great salvation. 

I. Great in its origination. The geologist who desires to 
impress his readers with the almost fabulous age of our world, and 
the marvelous changes through which it has passed in reaching its 
present condition, takes us by the hand, and leads us back through 
vast cycles of time ; the primeval forests teeming with strange 
life, until he brings us to the furthermost shore of time ; and we 
hear the booming of the billows of the chaotic deep, ere the word 
was spoken which scattered the night that brooded over it, and 
out of confusion evolved order. Our views of the greatness of 
divine power and wisdom are enlarged at every step taken. So 
in contemplating this great salvation, we must study its origina- 
tion. In order to do this, we must go back to the birthday of 
our race. We behold the earth clothed in verdure, and radiant 
with the smile of its Creator. No discord mars the music ; no 
tears have as yet fallen upon its bosom ; man, the last of God's 
works, the strange connecting link between matter and spirit, 
walks amid the works of the Creator— crowned monarch of them 
all. But soon a shadow steals over the scene ; you know the 
story ; man not content to be man only — aims to he as God. It 
is but a single act, but as vast forests lie enfolded in the single 
acorn, so all the evil and sorrow of human life were enwrapped in 
that one deed. It wonderfully enlarged man ; but it at the same 
time ruined him. It placed him in a new relation at once to both 
God and the devil. While it flung off the beneficent restraints of 
God's law, it at the same moment clasped on his limbs the fetters of 
slavery to evil. As the earthly Eden, the home of man innocent, 
faded away and left not a vestige behind to mark the spot where it 
stood, so the light of innocence faded away from the souls of 
the sinning pair, and the night of conscious guilt gathered over 
them. Out in the wilderness they sat, moaning and shivering in 
despair. Then arose the question, must the race perish. 



GREAT SALVATION. 99 

[t were easy for the Almighty, with one swift, sharp stroke of 
vengeance, to hurl the rebels out of existence, but the history of 
man would have been that of an abortive experiment on the part 
of God, and the night of annihilation would have covered the 
wreck. But there would have remained two unsolved prob- 
lems before the universe, viz : Whether a being of the 
composite nature of man could live holily, and then whether, 
having fallen, God could rescue and restore him. Incon- 
ceivable must have been the suspense of the Heavenly 
ranks, as the news of man's revolt was proclaimed. The Apoca- 
lyptic seer speaks of there being silence in heaven once for the 
space of half an hour. When Daniel was in the lion's den, the 
King of Babylon would have no sound of music or mirth in the 
palace. But it seems to me that silence most profound must have 
reigned in heaven at this time. The notes of praise floated away 
and the harpers stood with their fingers upon the last string touch- 
ed. " Who will go for us?" Silence still ; man stands bending in 
shame and anguish, and thickly the shadows gather of the coming 
night. In that hour did the Son of God elect to be the Redeemer, 
and the silence was broken by the words, " Lo ! I come. In the 
volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do Thy will, 
O God." Then was the great salvation proclaimed. Man was 
standing upon the crumbling edge of perdition, when the voice of 
the eternal Father cried, " Save him from going down to the pit, 
for I have found a ransom." O ! this is a great salvation, so great 
that the mind of God alone could compass it. Had the thought of 
the possibility of God incarnating Himself to die for man entered 
the mind of the tallest archangel, it would have been frowned 
back as a blasphemy. Great, for the power of Omnipotence alone 
could accomplish it. Had all heaven's host avowed their willing- 
ness to die for rebel man, the mighty sacrifice would have been 
inadequate. So great salvation. 

II. Great in its development. 

The law of all the divine operations seems to be that of 
gradual development. It is so in nature. The day does not 
burst upon our world in a moment, the gloom of night giving 
place to the glare of noon. The light comes gently, first tipping 
the hill-tops with glory, then stealing into the valleys ; the sun 
climbing up the ethereal steep, until it reaches the meridian glory. 
Winter does not vanish in a moment, but the transition is gentle 
and gradual. One by one the rivulets are unchained and the rivers 
loosed ; the buds peep out from the trees ; here and there a 
venturous flower looks out, trembling in the breeze as though 
fearful of its reception, and an occasional bright winged bird flits 
by, and a songster trills from the tree top. Then comes the full 
foliage and the outburst of nature's grand Summer concert. 



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So with man. Childhood, boyhood, manhood is the law. As 
in the natural so in the spiritual kingdom. The first promise, 
" The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head," was the 
dawn of a heavenly day upon the night of human guilt and woe. 
It was the prophecy of the rising of a sun brighter than had 
flooded Eden with splendor. Man was spared, the race was per- 
mitted. to multiply, bearing some of the shame and consequence 
of the sin, but with the pledge of ultimate deliverance. Spared — 
perpetuated for the very purpose of salvation. How grand is 
the development of this salvation, as we trace it through all his- 
tory. I have seen some fabrics, in the weaving of which a golden 
thread has been passed over the loom, and so wondrously had it 
been inwoven, that amid all the colors and changes of light, the 
golden thread appeared. So through all history — through the 
struggles and the triumphs of men ; in all the sacrifices which lay 
bleeding upon the world's altars ; in all thought, whether flashing 
in sparks from the minds of heathen sages, or beaming with a 
steadier luster from inspired prophets ; through all the warp and 
woof of human history, the scarlet thread of redemption runs. 
Look at history in any light you may, you find it leading to the 
Lamb of God, who out of the sins and sorrows of humanity has 
woven for Himself the royal fabric which decks Him as King of 
Kings. In the development of this great salvation, came the in- 
carnation, life and death of the Son of God. Why this was neces- 
sary I know not. The Bible says it was, and I am glad to accept 
the fact. O, it is a great salvation indeed ! God incarnate to re- 
deem rebels against Himself. All of redemption was wrapped 
up in the first promise. Not a pain, a groan, or a tear, but was 
comprehended and endured for this. 

The stupendous stoop from the throne of Diety to the manger 
of Bethlehem ; the servant's form worn for three and thirty 
years ; the fierce conflict of forty days in the wilderness with the 
great foe of God and our race ; the pain of contact with all that 
was unholy and saddening in man's body and soul ; the hatred 
of enemies and the falsity of friends ; the shuddering awe of 
Gethsemane ; the cup pressed to His lips, filled with" the bitterness 
of human woe ; the traitor's kiss ; the ruffian band ; the mock 
trial ; the scourge and thorn crown ; the swooning agony of the 
march along the via dolorosa to Golgotha; the nails; the jeers 
of men ; the awful sense of desolation extorting the cry, " My 
God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me ; " the death sweat and 
the grave, — all this was foreseen, accepted and endured that this 
great salvation might be accomplished for us. O, sinner, see what 
thy redemption cost ! Answer me as the Saviour's tears and 
blood emphasize the question : "How shall we escape if we ne- 
glect so great salvation ? 



GREAT SALVATION. 101 

III. Great in its consummation. This consummation includes 
two things : 

First. — The deliverance of man from the greatest of all perils. 
Need I again remind you of the danger in which sin places your 
soul ? I know some of you treat this as a bug-bear. Talk to you 
of a hell ! Bah ! You are not to be scared by nursery tales like 
that. Hear ! ye despisers, and tremble. Who is the preacher 
of perdition ? It is He who travelled from Heaven's throne to 
Calvary's cross to save you from it. Whose voice is that, 
which, in the tones of a judge, speaks of the worm that dieth not, 
and the fire that is never quenched ? Whose voice is it that will 
pronounce upon the impenitent the sentence, " Depart, ye cursed, 
into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels ?" It 
is the voice of Him who cried to all wandering, sin-sick souls, 
" Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and 
I will give you rest." 

O ! sinner, if you partake not of this great salvation, you will 
find yourself at last, a lost soul. * O ! the awful, shuddering gloom 
into which the soul is plunged when the thread of a wasted life 
is severed, and it drops out of the homes of the living into the 
pit. To deliver you from this is the purpose of this great 
salvation. 

Second. — The elevation of man to highest happiness and 
dignity. 

There can be no happiness without holiness. Pardon only 

could not make a soul happy. The old life must pass away, and 

new life stream into the soul. This great salvation consummated 

in the soul does this : — It thrills the soul with a life which is 

one with Christ, which is in harmony with all that is living, 

beautiful, blessed in the universe. From the crumbling edge of 

hell, it leaps up as it were to heaven's gate, singing with the 

glorified the words : 

Thou hast loved me and washed me from my sins in Thine own Blood ; 
Not uh to me, not unto me, but to Thy Name, O Lord, be all the glory. 

To the soul who partakes of this great salvation, life becomes 
henceforth one grand battle-march with an unceasing hymn of 
victory. The world of light is its home, and neither death nor hell 
can rob it of its title to enter there. But there is more than this. 
By this salvation, man is raised from deepest degradation to high- 
est honor. The prodigal flings aside his rags and his husks, and 
sits down at the feast radiant in the best robe. The slave of sin 
drops his fetters and lifts his hands in the gladness of conscious 
liberty, a son of God, child of the King, heir of immortality. 
O ! this is a great salvation. It stretches out into the eterni- 
ties. We see but little of it, comparatively, here, yet that 
little is beyond compare. We have felt something of it in our 



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own souls ; we have seen its grandeur in the chamber of the 
dying saint ; splendor spreading over the dying face touching it 
into majestic beauty, as though a reflection of light that never 
dims was fallen there, and the words of the poet have fitly ex- 
pressed the dying glance of farewell and of triumph. 

The world recedes ; it disappears I 
Heaven opens on u.y eyes ! my ears 

With sounds seraphic ring. 
Lend, lend your wings ! I mount, I fly! 
Oh, grave ! where is thy victory ? 

Oh, death ! where is thy sting ? 

But there is a grander consummation yet to be, when from 
north and south, east and west, the redeemed shall come and sit 
down at the marriage supper of the Lamb. They shall come, 
filling the New Jerusalem with songs, and the new earth and 
Heaven with sons. They shall come, prodigals, from distant 
deserts, where He found them ready to perish, to love Him with 
passionate devotedness, and drink eternal joy from His ever living 
fountains. They shall come, countless millions, swelling the 
song : " Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive power, 
and riches and glory and honor." 

O, this is the vision Jesus saw when from Calvary's cross He 
looked away beyond the waste of time. He looks on the vision 
still. Each day it brightens. Each soul saved brings it nearer. 
Angels gaze upon the vision and in it find the theme for their 
highest joy and loudest anthems. A sinner saved ! Ring all the 
bells, strike all your harps of gold. O, this is a great salvation ! 

Lastly. — I will briefly urge the question of my text. 

How shall ye escape ? Escape what ? Why, the loss of all that 
this salvation means, and the unutterable sorrow sin entails. I 
paint no horrified pictures of despair. I say if there be no dan- 
ger, if there be no hell, then this great salvation is a great mock- 
ery. I say if you neglect Christ, you lose all that can make 
your existence aught but an eternal curse. I once saw a man 
of brilliant promise, but who had perversely wrecked his life, 
blighted all the hopes of friends, suddenly confronted with the 
dreadful loss, by hearing read a picture of his early possibilities 
drawn by a master hand, and that man's throat swelled, and 
great tears trickled rapidly down his cheek. Weeping over the 
lost and irretreivable. So will it be in an infinitely sadder sense 
with you if you neglect this great salvation. O, there is an infi- 
nite pathos in the words of Jesus: "There shall be weeping 
and wailing, and gnashing of teeth." 

How shall you escape 1 By your own power or skill ? Oh, 
no ! These will be of no avail when death comes. 

Neglect will be as fatal as rejection. 

A vessel, richly laden and with many passengers, was nearing 



GREAT SALVATION. 103 

at nightfall the coast of Ireland. It had safety weathered the 
perils" of a long voyage, and was now nearly home. The clouds 
hung low and heavy in the west, and the moan of the wind on the 
waves indicated a storm. The captain was a young man, self- 
confident and proud. Some of the passengers went to him and 
said, "Captain, will you not signal for a pilot ?" " I am my own 
pilot" was the curt reply. Darker grew the night, and the storm 
rose to a furious height. Panic-stricken, the passengers again 
said, " Captain, will you not signal for a pilot V "I am my own 
pilot," was the reply again. But when morning broke that good 
ship was a wreck, and almost all on board had perished. All lost 
from neglect to get a pilot. 

O ! I entreat you, do not risk death and all the retributions of 
eternity without Christ. Neglect this salvation and you will be 
cast up upon the strands of perdition a shattered wreck. 

How shall ye escape, if ye neglect so great salvation? 



CHAPTER XII. 



LET US ALONE. 



SERMON BY REV. STEPHEN H. TYNG, JR., D.D., ON SUNDAY, JULY 16, 1876. 



" Let us alone : what have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth ? art 
Thou come to destroy us ? I know Thee who Thou art, the Holy One of God. 
And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him." — Mark 
i : 24, 25. 

How manifold, were the questions that our Lord Jesus answer- 
ed. He was plied with strange queries which would have sadly 
puzzled any other than Him. They fell about Him as the arrows 
and darts of an army of bowmen and spearmen ; but He not only 
evaded them — He took them up and sent them back with divine 
force. All the different schools of philosophy, the contrasted sects 
of the Jewish religion, the partizans of Herod, and the seditious 
of the people, bigots and infidels, the Sanhedrim and devils were 
confederate in the purpose and effort to entrap Jesus of Nazareth. 
They strove to ensnare Him in His talk, and they were worsted 
in every effort. They gathered in motley groups about Him, de- 
termined by the variety and contradictoriness of their questions 
to demonstrate His ignorance, and so to confound Him before 
the people. But He never lacked, through His many years of Life, 
so far as we have His sayings recorded, an appropriate and conclu- 
sive answer to every question, whether the traditions of the law, 
or the subtleties of the schools, or the prevailing interpretations of 
the prophets, whether the lawfulness of tribute, the reasons for di- 
vorce, the philosophy of the resurrection, or the economy of the 
future life were in debate. He endured a worse cross-examina- 
tion than Socrates ever conceived, and came off the victor in every 
contest ; for He was compelled, without the possibility of fore- 
thought, to meet these questions sometimes in the street, some- 



LET US ALONE. 105 

times in the synagogue, then in the court of the temple. On the 
instant ILe must adjust the truth to as many systems of specula- 
tion and morals as there were tempting mouths and men. He 
proved His mission in the face of every sort of provocation. He 
was conqueror over every conceivable cavil. His replies demon- 
strated a readiness of wisdom and resources of knowledge which, 
as in the passage before us, elicited the wonder of the people. 
Whilst never thrusting Himself into the war of words, which was 
the peculiar mark of the generation in which He lived, Jesus 
Christ never evaded their curiosity, nor shunned to declare the 
whole counsel of God. Again and again did they invade His 
retirement. They strove by all sorts of suggestions to cause the 
laugh against Him among the common people, who heard Him 
gladly. They were mortified, however, by their constant dis- 
comfitures, and hastily retired from the conflict, confessing de- 
feat, until at last the hour came when it is written : " Neither 
durst any man from that day forward ask Him any more 
questions." 

But these questions and answers have outlived that generation. 
They make the chief matters of social and religious discussion of 
to-day. The world has not changed its relations to Jesus Christ. 
It has changed its customs, its form of government, the way in 
which it applies and enforces its laws ; but it has not been exor- 
cised of its opposition to the Nazarene. There is the same malig- 
nity of motive, the same disingenuousness of method, the same 
bitterness of men towards the person and truth of Jesus Christ, 
as when He walked in Nazareth or worshipped in Jerusalem. 
Nay, the extending knowledge and influence of His gospel, in 
this nineteenth century, only gives malice more occasion, profan- 
ity more oaths, immorality a deeper dye than it had in the olden 
time. The queries to which Jesus gave answers have increased 
in intensity. But whilst the world is repeating its old questions, 
would it not be well for Christian people to recall the answers ? 
I hold that there is not a question of infidelity which is now 
asked, there is not a single objection of social philosophy, which 
is now projected against the gospel, which was not held eighteen 
hundred years ago, and answered as soon as asked, and in this 
Book is to be found a solution of the problem. We have 
that as our introductory thought this evening. The world is 
busy in its disputes, but it is very careful to conceal the fact that 
it was once worsted and overwhelmed, that its sophistries have 
been exposed, that its satires have been despoiled, its lances of 
logic have been broken, so that the feathered ends of pointless 
shafts alone are within its power. Let the old questions that are 
revived be met by all Christian people with the old annihilating 
answers, for in these the Lord Jesus has left us an inexhaustible 



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armory of defence. The man that sticks closest to the Bible is 
the man that shall have the most glorious triumph. 

Our text is one of the first examples of our Lord's marvel- 
lous self-possession and wise reply. St. Mark tells us He had 
come to Capernaum. It was the Sabbath day. He entered into 
the synagogue, as was His custom ; He expounded the law, and 
the people were astonished at His doctrine ; for He taught them 
as one having authority. There was among the worshippers one 
possessed of an unclean spirit, who cried out, " Let us alone ; 
what have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth ?" This 
was his prayer in the synagogue. The Lord rebuked him. "Hold 
thy peace, and come out of him." Two persons were recognized 
— the demon and the poor possessed one. For the one He 
had rebuke ; to the other His tone was full of tender compassion. 
I suppose that the circumstances of this scene are fulfilled to- 
night. This is the Lord's day. It is the hour of prayer ; we are 
in our synagogue ; and doubtless there are some persons here who 
in soliloquy have said, over and over again, let me alone ; what 
have I to do with Jesus of Nazareth ? May God the Holy Spirit 
make plain to you, dear friend, the voice of rebuke, and may the 
commanding voice of Jesus say : " Come out of him ;" so that 
clothed and in your right mind you shall be found before the 
evening is over, sitting at Jesus' feet. 

I. Now I have to say in reference to this text, first, Listen to 
the prayer of indifference : " Let us alone ; what have we to 
do with Jesus of Nazareth ? " The time of demoniacal possessions 
has passed ; the day of devils is over ; and yet the devil still 
has his day. Whatever may have been the philosophy of these 
strange possessions, our Lord's power and His treatment is suffi- 
ciently suggestive for us. They are matter of history, and we 
may as well leave them here. But who shall say there is not a 
resemblance still to be recognized among men. It is said of those 
possessed of evil spirits that they foamed at the mouth, gnashed 
with their teeth, and pined away. This man was torn of the 
devil. It may have been a species of insanity, or some form of 
disease we know nothing about ; but the description is very like 
that of one who is suffering something to be done to him by his 
sins, by his iniquities, by his vicious habits which he has contracted, 
and which are the masters of his will. Surely, this poor possessed 
one is only a type of that sad suffering, which remorse will bye 
and bye make a part of some of our experience. If anything be 
needed to demonstrate the parallel, we have it in our Lord's own 
words, speaking to the devil as discriminated from the man. Now 
I think I can illustrate this in all our experience. Here is a poor 
murderer. We go down and sit by the door of his cell. He 
crouches in a corner. The time of passion has past. There was 



LET US ALONE. 107 

a moment when he was inflamed by vengeance. His finger was 
quick to pull the trigger. A moment after he was exorcised of 
frensv ; and we look through the grating in the cell door at the 
poor sinner ; we execrate his crime ; we are glad he is there ; 
society is safer because that barred door is well locked ; and yet 
we pity the poor fellow. We distinguish between the awful evil 
nature, which was aroused in the moment of revenge, and the 
poor man, who has been made the slave of his worst passions. If 
we were Godlike we should love that man ; because we are only 
human we pity him. Even so does Jesus regard every sinner. 
Your evil heart of unbelief Jesus abhors ; but that soul of yours 
which has been subjected to this evil nature, He loves, and 
tenderly longs to make it a possessor of all His riches and grace. 
Indifference to Christ must be a sort of unclean spirit, for it raises 
the old cry. How proudly do young men walk the streets, in 
their very manner saying : " Let us alone ; what have we to do 
with Jesus of Nazareth ? Churches, Bibles, tracts, prayer meet- 
ings, what have we to do with you ? Let us alone." It is the 
soliloquy which, if men were sincere, they would express in trum- 
pet tones. 

I have called this the prayer of indifference. First of all, it is 
a prayer for something that can never he granted. " Let us alone." 
How natural and commonplace are the w T ords. All that any sin- 
ner in this world wants is neglect. Do not intrude upon them. 
Do not warn them. Do not rebuke them. Do not persuade 
them. Let them be. This is something which cannot be per- 
mitted. It is the voice of all those that are corrupters of youth 
in this great city; all the men who spend their lives in pulling 
down the purity and destroying the innocence of the youth. All 
they ask is to burrow in the dark and not be discovered, as we 
turn up the mole in the Spring time. There are those all about 
us who are themselves vicious and leprous as any possessed 
or diseased person in Jerusalem, and all they want is to be 
permitted to maintain their independence and freedom from 
control. The secret sinner — the man that does things of which 
it is a shame even to speak — he does not want them revealed. 
Let him alone ; let him hide himself in the dark. That poor 
child who dallies with impure and sinful thoughts in the 
secresy of imagination, all he wants is this let-alone policy. 
The infidel, the moralist, the man who, so far as his life is con- 
cerned, is the open enemy and blasphemer of Jesus Christ — this 
is the prayer of the whole host. Now in so far as all these are 
governed by the same spirit of indifference to Christ, they have a 
common plea. Though they are the victims of the power of evil, 
they fancy themselves free, and resent every intrusion upon their 
self-satisfied condition. The physician who was called yesterday 



108 UNDER CANVAS. 

to the patient, suffering with that scourge of this nineteenth cen- 
tury, had before him an exhibition which uttered this same ap- 
peal. All the cancer wants is to be let alone ; it will soon eat 
into the life. Out in the country, in the Summer time, there is a 
pool ; its surface is green, and its exhalations are death. The 
farmer comes with his spade and digs a passage through which it 
may run into the woods ; and the voice of the pool is, " Let me 
alone ; let the miasma spread." In the time of cholera it seems 
a very hard thing that the officers of the law can break in the 
door and take the person who is infected, and the cause of the 
evil in the community, to a place of refuge. He cries in his bed, 
and his family unite in the refrain, " Let me alone." My dear 
friend, the cry of the indifferent soul is like that of all these 
physical and natural facts — an impossibility. It can never be 
granted. Dost thou know, my friend, that this is God's world, 
and not yours ; and He will never let this world alone until every 
jot and tittle of sin is purged out of it. This is Grace's world, 
and Grace is like the light of Heaven — it will drive out every 
shade of darkness ; it is like salt — it will keep every particle from 
putrefaction. It cannot rest until its influences are effectual. 
This is Faith's world. Fruition has not come yet. And Faith, 
resting upon the power covenanted to its support, must wage an 
irreconcilable warfare against all evil works and workers until it 
subdues them to the Crown of Christ. This is Hope's world. It 
longs for the city that knows no sin. But as in itself, so in others, 
does Hope strive for purification as Christ is pure. This is Love's 
world. True Love is of God, and cannot be content until the 
world is restored to its allegiance. The first duty of every true 
believer is to set himself in absolute defiance against this prayer 
of indifferent man ; he cannot be let alone. 

It is said in the life of one of the old Methodist preachers in 
this country, named Nolly, that he met somewhere in Ohio a man 
who was travelling with his whole family in a covered wagon, and 
as soon as he arrived he went up and spoke to him about the sal- 
vation of his soul. The man was a blasphemer, and with the 
most violent profanity cursed the good preacher. Nolly hardly 
understood his bitterness, and asked him to explain himself, and 
he told the story. That story is a testimony to the usefulness of 
the old society of Methodists in the early history of this country, 
which I am most glad to repeat, for I do believe that if any de- 
nomination of Christians has done good, constant pioneer work 
for Christ, it is that Church. The man said to Nolly, "You ask 
me why I swear ? I will tell you. I lived down in North Caro- 
lina, in a piece of woods, far off from any city, and the first thing 
I knew a Methodist preacher came and preached in a school house 
near by, and my wife was converted. I never could hear the end 



LET US ALONE. 109 

of it ; she read and she prayed, and she taught the children, so 
that I was hored all day long ; I made up my mind that I would 
leave ; and I travelled up to Virginia. When I reached Virginia, 
the tirst man that showed himself was another Methodist preacher; 
he talked to me, and prayed, and annoyed me, until after a few 
days I made up my mind that I must go farther ; I did move up 
farther north, built a little shanty, and had hardly got fixed when 
another Methodist preacher came along, and he w r ould not let me 
alone. He talked to me, and my wife prayed, and my children 
pleaded, until at length, to get rid of it, I made up my mind that 
I would come into the wilderness of Ohio ; and now I have hardly 
stopped my team, when here you are, another Methodist preacher. 
I came all the way from North Carolina to get rid of you." Nolly 
said to Mm : " My friend, I don't think it is possible. If you go to 
heaven, you certainly will find Methodist preachers there ; if you 
go to the place of the lost, I am afraid you will find some cast- 
away Methodist preachers there ; and you see how it is here ; so 
you had better submit ; you never will be let alone ; you never 
can be permitted to maintain this position." Dear Christian 
friends, that is our responsibility. If we are filled with Christ's 
spirit of aggressive work, we never can let people alone, though 
we do it w r ith the utmost courtesy and gentleness. The Holy 
Spirit never will let you alone. This is a prayer that will never 
be granted, and should not be granted Oh ! what more awful 
thing could be done ! " Ephraim is turned to his idols ; let him 
alone." Suppose God should say that to you, young man : " Let 
him alone. Spirit of God, so long pleading, henceforth let that 
man alone. Conscience, so constantly witnessing, let that man 
alone. Minister of God, though it break thine heart, let that 
sinner alone." To be left alone is to be sent with the momentum 
of our depravity to the place or the lost. The man who is not held 
back from hell will go to his doom as a logical necessity. 

But then this prayer of indifference contains something that 
cannot be denied. " What have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus 
of Nazareth ? " Indifference is continually in many forms re- 
peating this same query. These people are saying something 
after this fashion : "It mil do very well for you who are be- 
lievers in Christ, who confess Him, who expect something from 
Him — it will do very well for you religious people to go to 
church, hear sermons, observe Sundays, read the Bible ; these 
are all yours ; they belong to you ; they do not belong to us. 
What have we to do with Jesus ? " "I have no part in them," 
such a person would say ; and so appeals are spurned and in- 
vitations derided. But see how this plea will answer before 
civil government. Jesus Christ is somebody outside of thyself, 
and thou hast to do with Him after a strange fashion. Suppose 



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some one should say, " What is law to me ? I am a lawless man. 
Laws are made for law-abiding people. They observe them. I 
am a ruffian. Talk to me about what 1 shall say, or what I 
shall do ! If I like to spend my time in selling liquor, to burn 
up the bodies and souls of men, I will do so, regardless of any 
prohibitory law." But an officer comes along, " My friend, I 
want you." " What have I to do with a law officer ? " " There 
is a prison ; perhaps you will have something to do with that." 
A silly fool is the man that tries to light against government. 
But now let me ask: Was government made only for men's 
bodies ? Is there no government for men's souls — that within 
them, which controls their bodies ? I tell thee thou art living 
under a Divine government. You are living under the Sovereign 
laws of that God who made you, who continues your being, and 
who can take you out of life, and the sooner you recognize that 
fact the wiser you will be. Thou canst not isolate thyself. Thou 
art either a subject or a rebel. Thou canst not help recognizing 
Jesus. God controls all things by Him, preserves all things by 
the word of His power, redeems all by His precious blood, sanc- 
tifies all by His spiritual indwelling; He will judge all by that 
man Jesus Christ, whom He hath appointed to be the judge of 
both the living and the dead. Oh, sir, are you an anomaly in 
this world 1 Are you the only man outside of this government ? 
Are you the only man that can successfully rebel against God ? 
I tell thee thou hast all things to do with Jesus Christ : sins to 
be forgiven, infirmities to be strengthened, temptations to be re- 
sisted, duties to be performed, virtues to be educated. Thou hast 
to do with no one else. He in His gracious Gospel is thy only 
refuge and help and hope. Somewhat every soul must have to 
do with Jesus. He may have to do with His grace now, in tender 
submission, in willing acceptance and joyful obedience. If not, 
I warn you solemnly, my dear young friend, that you must have 
to do with His awful wrath at the last ; one or the other we must 
accept ; it is impossible to evade both, and he who makes the 
attempt will lose his eternal life as the result of his folly. 

But now, again, in this prayer of indifference, we have some- 
thing that cannot he endured. " Art Thou come to destroy us ?" 
Poor soul ! he only knew Jesus Christ as a destroyer. He did 
not know Him in the preciousness of His promises, and in His 
relations as a Saviour. Every twinge of conscience, every shadow 
across his path of life, every bereavement, every loss, every failure 
is only to the unbeliever the prophecy of some darker disaster 
that is to come. It is an awful thing to be unreconciled to God — 
to have God's arrow pointed at you, even though it fly not 
from the bow. What terrific words are those, which are used to 
describe the future condition of the indifferent ! Somebody asks, 



LET US ALONE. Ill 

" How shall I be lost ?" Neglect so great salvation. Do noth- 
ing. Stay where yon are. That is the way to be lost. It does 
Dot need very black sins. As a man dies in neglect, so judgment 
finds him. As judgment finds him, so eternity holds him. 
" Hast Thou come to destroy us before our time ?" Oh, dear 
friends, it is a fearful association to have with the name of Jesus. 
He has not come for that. This is the time of grace ; this is the 
time of pardon. " I am not come to destroy," is His voice 
now, " but to fulfill," in your hearts, all My love, all My purposes 
of forgiveness. " I have no pleasure in the death of the 
wicked." Whenever you have the other thought, it is a sugges- 
tion of the Evil one to keep you back from Jesus Christ. Pray 
not this prayer of indifference again. Say not " Let us alone ; 
what have we to do with Jesus ;" but look to Him as a Saviour, 
not a destroyer ; as one ready to build thee up, not to cast thee 
down. 

II. Now I would learn something from the answer of our 
Lord. How authoritative and sententious it is ! " Hold thy 
peace. Come out." There is no time now for argument ; there 
is no permission for persuasion. This is not a moment for nego- 
tiation ; only for command. Would that some good Christian 
people would learn that. How many hours we waste in arguing 
things that ought never to be argued. The Lord Jesus Christ 
addresses them ; " Come out !" and His voice gives the victory. 

But I have to say in reference to this answer, that it proves 
one thing very conclusively — that the witness of devils is worthless. 
This devil says : "I know Thee who Thou art — the Holy One of 
God." This was a most complimentary confession ; but well He 
knew that the devil confessed the truth to disgrace it. Any testi- 
mony from the father of lies, and from any servant of the father of 
lies, is to be despised above all other things. I hold that there is 
something ineffably pusillanimous in the prominence given by 
some Christian people to the extorted testimony of those who 
have not by experience known the power of the gospel. Rous 
seau, for instance, how often is he quoted. To all his immoral 
precepts he appended a statement preferring Jesus Christ to Soc- 
rates. The story is told of Ethan Allen, a great infidel : When 
about to die, his daughter came to him and asked him which faith 
she should follow, her father's or her mother's, who was a Chris- 
tian. Ethan Allen replied in his agony, " Follow your mother's, 
my child, follow your mother's ; it is the only faith that will stand 
the test of this hour." An English nobleman, who was hanged, 
when called to the scaffold, said he had always regarded the Lord's 
Prayer as a very useful and valuable contribution to devotional 
literature. Napoleon said that Jesus Christ was more than a 
man ; and he knew men. And all these are quoted as testimonies 



112 UNDER CANVAS. 

to the gospel. Such men know no more about the gospel than 
the unclean birds that floated over the tabernacle knew the mean- 
ing of the sacrifice ! Such extorted testimony is absolutely 
worthless. I would rather have the witness of the smallest child 
who has tasted that the Lord is gracious, than that of the most 
prominent philosopher that ever lived, who knew not by experi- 
ence the power of the gospel. " Ye are my witnesses," saith the 
Lord. Testify to what you know, to that which has run through 
your soul, and made you what you are, and men will rely upon 
your testimony. It is not the great men in the world who always 
know the greatest thing. God reveals His most precious truths 
sometimes to the most ignorant and the most insufficient in the 
wisdom of this world. 

But then again, the answer teaches us that the word of Jesus 
is sufficient. How instantaneous was the result. That which no 
process of medical skill and science could secure the word of 
Jesus accomplished. And His word is just as powerful now as 
it was then. Yet how many who have indeed heard His voice 
are waiting for some longer and more involved experience. How 
many here say, " Oh ! if the preacher would say something that 
would touch the right spot — say something that meant me — 1 
might give up and be Christ's " Dear friend, has not Jesus said, 
" Come out ! " to your sin and evil heart of unbelief in you. It 
will never come out in any other way. I might talk till mid- 
night, and never turn your will an atom. I profess before you 
that I never stand up in this place to speak with any expectation 
that my words are to be effectual. Unless God the Spirit works 
with them and uses them, they are poor breath. Man cannot 
help you. Jesus must speak ; and when He does speak to you, 
then the cure is accomplished. Argue not with yourself ; give up 
this evil heart of yours to-night. Take the Satan" that dwelleth 
in you to Gethsemane. Show him your Lord suffering. Take 
him to Golgotha ; show him the Lord dying for you ; make him 
listen to the words " It is finished." Take him to the open 
tomb, and bid him testify that your Lord is risen. Take him to 
the first chapter of Acts, and see the Lord ascending ; hear His 
words of pardon and peace. Let me tell thee, if thou wilt this 
night consecrate thyself to Him, and make thine evil heart of, 
unbelief go to those sacred places with thee, thou wilt have no 
unbelief to-morrow morning ; Jesus will say " Come out," and 
it shall be done. 

But then, I learn from this answer, again, that the work of 
recovery is painful. The sullen spirit inflicts all the sorrows 
within its power. Still malignant, though doomed to obey, he 
convulsed the poor sufferer. The sorrows of conversion are the 
work of Satan. If the sinner's faith was clear, he would have 



LET US ALONE. 113 

nothing but joy ; even his godly sorrow would be joy. The true 
way to believe is to believe right off, on the basis of God's word, 
and not wait for any of those awful experiences within ourselves. 
They are caused by Satan and not by the Spirit of God. Some- 
times he gives dark doubts, bitter blasphemies, injects all sorts of 
suspicion. Spurgeon says " the Devil drives his own herds into 
our field, and strives to make us take them in." Ralph Erskine 
Bays " the Devil brings his brats to our door, and asks us to father 
them." There are no foundlings so noisy as the Devil's. They 
are not ours. We are suffering something from the powers of 
evil, by all these troubles thus brought upon us. 

And then the last thought I have from the answer is that the 
wonder of men is Salvation. See in the twenty-seventh verse : 
" They were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among 
themselves, saying, What thing is this ?" In its theory, per- 
sonal salvation is marvellous, but its practical application both 
amazes and awes. The transformations in character and life, 
which the Gospel in all ages has caused, have been its unim- 
peachable arguments. The old teacher, Lactantius, is quoted 
as saying : " Give me a man who is choleric, abusive in his 
language, headstrong and unruly; with a very few words, the 
words of God, I will render him as gentle as a lamb. Give me 
a greedy, covetous, parsimonious man ; with the words of God I 
will return him a gracious creature, freely bestowing his money 
by handsful. Give me an unjust man; and on a sudden he 
shall become honest, wise and virtuous." So was Saul the 
persecutor changed into Paul the Apostle. And Augustine the 
profligate by the truth of a single text was transformed into a 
preacher of righteousness. Well may men wonder, for such 
effects can be produced by the wisdom and might of God 
alone. Now it will be the privilege of many of you 
to make people stare this week, if you want to. You 
will surprise your family, your fellow-workmen, your 
friends. You can give the greatest sensation in all the circle of 
your acquaintance that it is possible to conceive, by ceasing to 
pray " Let us alone," and changing your prayer : " Lord, I would 
ever be with Thee. Thou are mine ; I am Thine." That begins 
thy transformation of character and life, and may well make men 
wonder, for it is the miracle of Divine power. Nothing is so im- 
possible as the turning towards God by an indifferent sinner. 
God only can do that ; and, my dear friends, if He does it for 
you to-night, it is the manifestation of Divine Grace which alone 
is competent for that end. 

Art thou answered, my indifferent hearer ? Until thou be- 
lievest, thy testimony is not needed. Claim Jesus Christ as thine 
own and then shalt thou gladly confess in thy life as well as by 



114: UNDER CANVAS. 

thy lips His praise. He alone is worthy of thy service, for from 
heaven did He condescend to be the servant of all. Rejoice in 
His promises and pledge thyself to His government. I would 
have you men and women who have heard me through so many 
nights, to serve the Great One, the Mighty One — the Mightiest 
One. My heart's desire and prayer to God for you is that you 
may be saved to the service of the Mightiest. Did you ever hear 
the legend of St. Christopher ? That tells the story. It is said 
that in Germany there was an old giant, whose name was Opher, 
the bearer. He was inspired to attach himself to the service of the 
mightest one in all the world. He knew of none greater than the 
Emperor, and he proposed hnnself to be his leigeman. He would 
serve the Emperor, who was the representative of all authority and 
dominion. The Emperor gave him a place next his own person as 
a guard, and they rode together, the Emperor and Opher, in all 
their journeys, until at last one day they were riding through a 
wood and came to a thick copse. The Emperor drew in his 
horse, and signed himself with the sign of the cross. Opher 
looked at him. " Ho ! ho ! my Lord Emperor, of what art thou 
afraid." The Emperor said, " I fear the devil. He dwells in 
this wood." " Ho ! ho ! then Opher will serve the devil ! I 
will serve none but the mightiest." The legend says he plunged 
into the forest, seeking the Evil One, and came to a place where 
human bones were lying upon an altar and the evidences of 
cruelty all about him. There he met the one he sought, and 
asked him, "Who art thou?" "I am Satan." "Then I am 
thy true servant," said Opher. " I would serve the mightiest, 
and thou art mightier than my Lord Emperor." Satan accepted 
Opher to be his body-guard, and they started off through the 
forest, until, bye and bye, they came to a rising ground, upon 
which three crosses stood. Opher drew his bow and sent an 
arrow to the very centre of the middle cross. The devil turned 
aside to get beyond the gallows trees. " Ho ! ho ! my Lord 
Devil, of what art thou afraid ? " " That is the cross of Mary's 
Son," said the devil. " Mary's Son. Who is Mary's Son, my 
Lord Devil ? " " He conquered me." " Ho ! ho ! then there is 
one greater than thou, my Lord Devil. I will seek Mary's 
Son." He left the service of Satan, and, after much wanderings, 
found an old hermit who lived in a cave, to whom he told his 
perplexities. The hermit instructed him as to who was Mary's 
Son, and told him if he wanted to enter His service, to take up 
1 his abode beside a deep and rapid stream which ran near a chapel, 
there to carry upon his broad shoulders the pilgrims as they came 
to the water and could not pass over by themselves. So with his 
huge staff, trusty Opher, who would only serve the mightiest one, 
plodded, day after day, through the rocks and foaming stream, 



LET US ALONE. 115 

bearing* needy pilgrims for the sake of Mary's Son, whose service 
he had adopted. For years he continued faithful, until at last, 
in the silence of one night, he heard the voice of a child outside 
his hut : " Opher, good Opher." He started and seized his staff. 
Before him stood a beautiful child, an unearthly child, with long 
flaxen hair and sweet blue eyes, beaming with tenderness. 
" Opher, good Opher, bear me over the stream." He stooped for 
the child to find rest upon his back, and started on his journey — 
this oft-repeated journey of faith for Mary's Son. But as he 
stepped into the water the burden grew heavier upon his back. 
He bowed down wearily ; he thought he should have fallen in the 
torrent, so weighty became his charge ; and when he had reached 
the further bank, the child had become a man, marked with the 
signs of sorrow, yet majestic in his compassion, his tenderness and 
his power. Opher, with surprise, asked " Who art thou ? " 
" Opher, I am Mary's Son ;" and with water from the river He 
baptized him, and said " Henceforth thou shalt be called Christ- 
Opher, for thou art the Bearer of Christ." 

God give you all grace to be Christ-Ophers — the servants not 
of my Lord Emperor, or my Lord Satan, but of the Mightiest 
One, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, whose name is Jesus. 
Amen. 



CHAPTER XIII. 



THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 



SERMON BY THE REV. JOSEPH ODELL, OF THE PARK AVENUE PRIMITIVE 
METHODIST CHURCH, BROOKLYN, ON FRIDAY, AUGUST llTH, 1876. 



" Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision." — Joel Hi., 14. 

With this word "valley," we have a crowd of thoughts at 
once interesting and instructive. We think of it geographically, 
and we regard it as the synonym of fertility, fragrance, beauty. 
We think of it historically, and we associate with it the tales of 
battles fought and lost and gained ; of kings dethroned, empires 
destroyed, the boundaries of countries and peoples changed ; of 
treaties signed, charters given and peace proclaimed. We think 
of the valley scripturally, and we see in it the type of humility ; 
it forms the canvas upon which is sketched the stirring scenes of 
holy war ; it is made the platform upon which the principles of 
good and evil are discussed ; it is the arena of mysterious conflict, 
the ground upon which a vision of death is transformed into a 
scene of glorious life — the place where grace reigns and triumphs. 
Now, it is very difficult to decide positively upon the valley of 
this text. Some Biblical critics assure us that this valley is that 
of Jehosaphat, a very secluded and beautiful spot, protected on 
every side by towering hills and proudly rising rocks, and exhibit- 
ing a scene of natural grandeur almost without a rival. Here, 
the king's garden was kept and cultivated, and here many of those 
national reforms, so remarkable in Jewish history, had their ori- 
gin. The name " Decision " here accorded to it, is understood to 
arise from the spirit of prophecy, and is given in anticipation of 
that period when the way-worn and weather-beaten Jew from 
every quarter of the globe shall repair to his long-lost land 






THE VALLEY OF DECISION. 117 

and home, and the representatives of the nation shall 
gather, under the memory of punishment, incision, appeal and 
recovery ; and here in this valley, full of their national remind- 
ers, they shall decide in favor of Christ — " shall look upon Him 
whom they have pierced and mourn," — while in penitence, prayer 
and vows they pledge themselves to the service and worship of 
our glorious Messiah. But as the language of the text is evi- 
dently highly figurative, there being no valley literally called 
"Decision" we certainly may be permitted to take the words of 
the text and employ them as a very apt figure for the happiest 
possible use ; specially so may we venture to do this as we are 
certainly not bound to restrict the general figures of Scripture to 
one, and that the lowest meaning, but we should feel perfect 
liberty in working out and working up the words and symbols of 
the Book for the more attractive and emphatic teachings of the 
gospel, the most imperative claims for the Divine service, and 
the promotion of the highest glory of God. This text, therefore, 
comes to us and presents a glowing picture of the chief and 
superlative quality demanded at the very beginning of a godly 
life, and also of the commanding influence and vision that the 
gospel affords as witnessed in the " Multitudes in the valley of 
decision." 

Sustaining the happy figure of the text, we shall now call your 
attention to The name this valley bears. 

The name " decision" is very significant, and it is correct to 
employ it as applicable to the character of religion. If there- 
fore this name is given to the valley, it must be so in opposition to 
the indifference and indecision so observable around ; and in sus- 
taining the symbol we state that this name distinguishes the val- 
ley from the outlying districts ; beyond this vale of high and holy 
name there are districts covered with the ungodly and sinner. To- 
night you may clearly discern the plains of good desires — many 
are strolling here ; the cloudy regions of unbelief, so shadowy 
and dark ; the marshy grounds of drunkenness, where myriads 
sink to rise no more ; the altitudes of self -righteousness, where 
shivering they stand ; the cold hills of scepticism, where starv- 
ing, shrivelled beings gaze and die ; the wild cliffs of back slid- 
ing, where they stumble and pine and bleed away ; and the 
burning table-lands of sinful pleasure, where moral fevers waste 
and burn. All these localities and out-lying districts are crowded 
with the unconverted, while here and there you may see the 
bleached bones and ghastly skulls of the victims of indecision. 
But, here in this valley of my text, so distinct in locality and so 
different in name, you can now command a beautiful, bright 
vision of a multitude all singing in response and testimony : 



118 UNDER CANVAS. 

The ways of religiou true pleasures afford, 

There are no joys that can equal the joys of the Lord. 

Again, the name this valley bears is derived from an event 
the most singular and unrivalled. Events do immortalize places ; 
thus the pass of Thermopalye where Leonidas and his brave band 
so nobly fought and bled and fell ; so the vale of Runnymede, 
where a papist king was compelled by the British barons to sign 
the Magna Charta ; these events gave a lasting name and fame 
and glory to the localities ; and it is from one glorious event that 
we obtain the name that shall give tone and effect, and immortality 
to this figurative vale. This event is " decision for God'"- — thus 
the name is derived from a principle at work upon the human 
mind ; the grace of God leads to decision ; under the influence of 
the gracious Spirit so freely given in these last days a man may 
decide to be the Lord's, body and soul, for time and eternity. If 
this be the event, any local spot may become the valley and be 
immortalized by the deed ; there in the lovely natural valley a 
man may wander and believe ; in the mighty massive cathedral, 
where the choir sings and the organ rings, you may decide and be 
saved ; in the cottage of the artisan decision can be formed, sal- 
vation found ; in your own chamber, where you may have gone 
to rest many times without devotion or decision, there you may 
pray, believe, be saved ; in this tent to-night, with all the attract- 
iveness, and light, and music, and hope of this service, your 
anxiety may be augmented, your penitence intensified, your long- 
ings agonized, your prayers so pointed that your will shall be 
brought into complete submission to God and then into absolute 
decision for God. 

So you observe, that while we try to localize the event and 
to the place afford the name, it is the event itself that we deem 
supremely desirable ; it is the great event we long for ; it is not 
places but deeds, that make a brilliant immortality ! What is a val- 
ley — though the loveliest Eden ever seen, or a palace of unequalled 
splendour to an undecided, unconverted man ? Oh ! I claim the 
profoundest attention to this demand of decision for God ! Such 
a deed shall immortalize this service under canvas ; and though 
there be no tablet, no inscription to mark the spot where you 
decide ; though this covering be but temporary, and the design and 
workmanship be unartistic; though no pilgrimages shall ever be 
taken by posterity to this sacred spot ; yet, the angels of God as 
they take their splendid tour through immensity, their grand 
surveys of the universe, here they shall hover, and linger, and 
sing, and bending down in happy clusters to each other they shall 
say " this is the valley of decision ;" " this man and that woman 
were born here ;" then singing with spirit-music, they shall soar 



THE VALLEY OF DECISION. Ill) 

away in search of other valleys — valleys with such happy memo- 
ries and such splendid names. 

Let me next ask your attention to the way this valley is 

ENTERED. 

The manner of this decision should be fully known ; the 
entrance is by the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ ; there is but 
this single way in ; every other pass is blocked up and defended 
by Justice. Jesus says : "I am the way." " I am the door." 
There is none other name or way given to us men and sinners ; 
this door is available from each of those out-lying districts ; you 
can all get down to the Cross, round to this Door, and up to God 
and glory by this Way ; there are means employed to induce you 
to enter ; they are various as agencies, but they all say " Enter 
in f" The pale looks of affliction turn that way; your sick 
friends would gladly follow you in ; the ghastly hand of death 
points that way ; many a dying one has tried to clutch the gate of 
happiness ; the crowd of weeping penitents are marching that 
way ; the throngs of new converts are calling out to you, " Come 
The voices of God's servants from this desk, and the 



in i 



/" 



pleadings of the Holy Spirit, uniting cry, " This is the way, walk 
ye in it." 

The valley entered, there are privileges and immunities to be 
enjoyed ; there is the enjoyment of glorious life in this valley ; to 
serve God is to live ; religion is life ! You have seen the ex- 
uberant life of the natural valley; there the water flows the 
freshest, the grass grows the greenest, the flowers appear the 
loveliest, the birds sing the sweetest, and all nature is the grandest. 
But, here in our valley, " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither 
have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath 
prepared for them that love Him." " God hath revealed them 
unto us by His Spirit." For, having decided for God and found 
Christ, the salubrious air of Eden in all its balmy freshness is 
upon us, the water of life flows near ; music falls in soft and 
measured cadences upon the ear, and heaven itself bathes us in 
the valley. We have the privilege of the purest society ; all the 
best of our race associate here ; bright angels linger here. The 
triune God dwells here. " Truly our fellowship is with the 
Father and with His Son Jesus Christ ;" if we walk in the light 
and live in the valley of light and glory, we shall have fellowship 
one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son clean- 
seth us from all sin. Here, the bridge of light is found across 
the stream of death ; religion does not exempt us from death ; 
the black flood flows here ; along the back it winds ; but, Christ 
has bridged the stream ; we here find the bridge and see angels 
standing along the piers to light straight across. Here we dis- 
cern the realms of bliss beyond ; in this vale we have the scene 



120 UNDER CANVAS. 

gradually growing clearer ; the saints are singing now : " Yon- 
der's my house and portion fair." " For me my elder brethren 
stay : " The canopy of the sky is lined with dear ones waiting for 
me. 

" I come, I come, my soul replies, 
I'm bound to meet you in the skies 
Aud claim a mansion there.*' 

Finally, this text is the language of one gazing upon a mar- 
vellous scene. " Multitudes, multitudes in the valley." In our 
minds to-night we take a survey of God's work, and in view of 
the results of the services held here, the words of this text best 
describe our emotions ; it is a vision of surprise at the numbers 
and characters that have been saved, of joy over such displays of 
saving grace, of faith that this is but the beginning of the work 
— the waving of the first fruits — the joy of harvest is coming. 
For the unsaved, it should, however, be a vision of solemn con- 
sideration. Many have entered, why am I still undecided ? the 
door is open, why should I still tarry ? I ought to decide ; this 
nio;ht I will be saved. 



o 



" I will accept His offers now, 
From every sin depart , 
Perform my oft-repeated vow 
And render Him my heart." 






CHAPTER XIV. 



THE BURDEN IN WORD AND IN WEAR. 



SERMON BY THE REV. JOSEPH ODELL, OX FRIDAY, AUGUST 18TH, 1876. 



u The burden of the Word of the Lord." — Zechariah xii., 1. 
What wonderful men those ancient prophets were ; how lonely, 
solemn, honest and fearless ! God's men, possessing within them 
the inspiration of a Divine call, and hot with the action of a Divine 
fire, they went forth with commanding might and majesty to do 
God's work. As we read their prophecies in these distant days 
the men start up before our minds and seem to live again. There 
is Isaiah, grown snowy white with age. He has seen kings die ; 
priests fall at the altar ; people of two generations pass away; 
yet he appears to grow young with whitening years and fresh- 
ens for his work with age, while in a foreign city and in the 
trials of captivity he moves from street to street, a grand example 
of open-air preaching, as with trumpet voice he tells the people 
of their sins, and points them to the coming Deliverer. There is 
Jeremiah also — that man of grief, that weeping seer ; he grew so 
full of sorrow at the approaching doom of the people that he 
could not tell it all ; — his preaching would have been choked by 
sighs and groans, so, taking a new parchment scroll, he writes 
God's message, and putting the ominous document under his arm, 
with downcast looks he ascends the temple steps and nails his 
message up ; then with streaming eyes and breaking heart he re- 
turns in loneliness to his home, awaiting the judgments of his God. 
And Ezekiel too, he began his work in the morning of his days, 
yet how manly and mature he looks ! he employs no half measures 
to convey God's truth ; he is very practical withal ; his faith is 
fully shown by his works, for having told his message, he moves 
all his goods from his house and then awaits in patience the visi- 
tation of the Lord. In this text Zechariah appears before us. 
The picture is a gloomy one ; he has seen better days ; when a 



122 UNDER CANVAS. 

young man, he took part in those stirring scenes of the return 
from bondage and the rebuilding of the temple ; he has now 
fallen on evil days, and in his old age too ; for the people have 
forgotten their former mercies, they have deserted the temple and 
dishonored God. The good old man cannot endure this ; the bur- 
den of the Lord rests heavily upon him ; he cannot refrain ; his 
summons to reform falls with threatening, ominous tones upon the 
people; the heads of the nation were alarmed, but the people 
generally were so persistent in their course, that rather than re- 
form they mocked the messenger of God, and he, burdened with 
the word of the Lord, went sadly to his grave. 

These were the men ; they carried Divine truth with them ; 
this gave them their burdens : nor does it reduce their lives as 
examples for us, to say they were supernaturally endowed; it 
was this endowment that made them strong to meet the flood-tide 
of evil and scale the mountain barriers of idolatry. God gave 
them their hope and proved Himself their amulet and glory. 

The ministry of this day ought not to be regarded as so en- 
tirely dissimilar from those ancient prophets. Without the pro- 
phets' mien or garb, and without the prophets' miraculous power, 
we are, notwithstanding, called to as great a work ; and we have 
certainly the greater opportunities and the greatest privileges; 
supported by the accumulated experiences of the past, sustained 
by the Holy Spirit of God, carrying the solemn saving message 
of the Lord, we should feel like men wrapt in garments of flame. 
Ours should be words that would flash as the lightning, roll as 
the thunder and distil as the dew, and invariably as we weep be- 
tween the porch and the altar we also should feel the burden — 
" The burden €>f the Word of the Lord." Now, praying that this 
sense of responsibility may be mine ; conscious of the presence 
of beings from other worlds to watch the issues of this service, 
and oppressed with the knowledge that the delivery of this Word 
may decide your position in the scale of moral, intelligent and 
saved beings for evermore, I present to you " the burden of the 
Word of the Lord." 

We study the subject, first, as the burden in word. 

The word "burden" is of very simple and general application; 
it cannot well be misunderstood ; it is often used by the prophets ; 
the meaning there varies according to the relation the word sus- 
tains. For instance, the responsibility that the prophets felt in 
their reception of the Word from God, and their official obligations 
made a burden for them ; the announcement and continued de- 
livery of the Word was a very burdensome duty to them ; the 
thought of the hardness and guiltiness of the people imposed a 
burden on them also ; the people too had their burdens; the law 
of God, the repetition of warning, the demands of righteousness 



THE BURDEN IN WORD AND IN WEAR. 123 

the people so frequently regarded as burdens ; the simple and 
faithful acceptance of the messages from God led to burdens of 
condemnation for past sins that none but God could remove ; 
hence, it seems perfectly natural for us to read of the burden in 
word. To some, however, there may appear a strange paradox 
in the burden of a word. What can be lighter than a word ? 
Words so quickly spoken and so soon forgotten ; a word is but a 
vibration on the air, it may be but a simple sound, — an articula- 
tion; where can be the burden of this AVord? Such, however, is 
but a partial view of the subject ; even small words may impose 
great burdens ; words have been uttered that have electrified the 
nations ; seas have bent beneath the weight of navies, and 
the thunder of artillery and the clash of warlike implements have 
drowned the thunders of the skies, and all has started by a few 
short words. The message wired from the President of this great 
commonwealth to all the States might paralyze the country for a 
time ; a few words, — just strokes of the pen from the Admiralty 
of Great Britain might close the naval yards of the country and 
desolate the homes of multitudes of families ; a few words spoken 
in Berlin and repeated in Paris, gave us all the shocking scenes of 
the Franco-German war. If such may be the weight of words 
spoken by mortals, what must be the burden of the Word of the 
King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible ? We now present you with 
a ponderous fact. We have a Word from the Lord! There is no 
clear ground for doubt upon the subject. Our Bible has stood the 
test of logical, critical, sceptical and friendly investigation ; fiend- 
ish malice from one side, and human experience on the other have 
heard this Word, and found it to be all-conquering, — all-Divine. 
It has taken a position in harmony with its claims, millions upon 
millions of our race keep it by them, carry it with them, love it 
and obey it as the Word of the Lord. It bears a likeness in har- 
mony with its high claims ; it is like its Author ; the writing and 
the lines, the spirit and design of it prove it all-Divine. As one of 
the starry sons of science, discovering a new truth in astronomy, 
starting back from his table and looking reverently up to heaven, 
said, "My God, this is too beautiful not to be true;" so in the 
message of this book, the Word of the Lord — " it is too beautiful 
not to be true ! " It assumes an authority equal to its claims. 
"Thus saith the Lord," is the herald that introduces all its solemn 
teachings ; it is the voice of the great God and King of earth and 
heaven ; it comes ringing down the starry steep above us and en- 
tering every attentive heart, it says : " Let the wicked forsake his 
way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return 
unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our 
God, for He will abundantly pardon." This being the truth rela- 
tive to the authenticity and divinity of the Word, we must acknow- 



124 UNDER CANVAS. 

ledge our tremendous obligations ; we must give the most profound 
attention to its discoveries; it shows that men are all sinners; 
Christ the universal Redeemer ; this life a preliminary, a margin 
only ; death is a solemn frontier, and a deep blue eternity beyond 
the destiny of us all ; it attests that we must give up sin, fly to 
Christ, accept His atonement, grasp the saving power of His 
grace, live holy by an in-dwelling Spirit, and die in the full triumph 
of faith, then rise to eternity's throne. We must most faithfully 
administer its teachings ; as ministers of Christ a dispensation of 
the Gospel is given unto us. What a responsibility is ours to- 
night ! " Son of Man, I have set thee a watchman unto the house 

of Israel Thou shalt warn them from me, Oh, wicked 

man thou shalt surely die." What a work for mortals ! Ruling 
empires is nought to this : not one solitary hearer present but 
must take an impression from this service that will never wear 
off : heaven and hell will forever ring w r ith recited memorials of 
this service ! " Oh Earth, Earth, Earth, hear the Word of the 
Lord." " Come now T and let us reason together, saith the Lord, 
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; 
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." We 
must most promptly and fully obey this word — " Be ye doers of 
the Word." " To-day if ye will hear His voice harden not your 
hearts." " Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die." " Repent ye 
and be converted." " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou 
shalt be saved." 

Let me now speak, secondly, of the word of the Lord, as the 
burden in wear. Having taught this Word, you have now to take 
the truth, to put it on, to wear it, to feel its weight as the pro- 
phets felt ; no one can wear your burden ; we, as preachers of the 
Word, may feel our own responsibility, but we cannot feel yours ; 
we cannot repent for you, we cannot take the life- weights of piety 
and carry them for you. I pray that the blessed Spirit of God 
may fit the burden to every soul this night. You must feel first 
a burden of guilt. This Word charges you with a violation of 
God's law ; guilty you stand ; are you too hardened to feel your 
guilt and shame and condemnation ? I pray you may feel heavily. 
Paul describes your very state when you begin to bow down under 
this burden : " Oh, wretched man that I am ! " David said, " Mine 
iniquities have gone over my head, as a heavy burden ; they are 
too heavy for me." The publican on the temple steps was so 
burdened that he could not raise his head or lift his eyes to heaven ; 
this must first come upon the unconverted here. This is the 
weight, if not felt by the ungodly on earth, must weigh them down 
forever. Next, there must be a burden of grief. The weight of 
your guilt will draw open the weeping cross gate ; sorrow for sin 
will make the tears flow ; reflection of Jesus' love to a guilty sinner 



THE BURDEN IN WORD AND IN WEAR. 125 

will melt the heart ; " they shall look upon Him whom the} T have 
pierced, and they shall mourn;" there shall be mourning apart, 
every family apart ; the loneliness of heart-sorrow shall be felt; 
like the little boy of troubled heart, who wept when he thought 
of the Saviour's death for him, because he could not help it. 

With pleasing grief and mournful joy, 

My spirit next is filled 
That I should such a life destroy, 

Yet live by Him I killed. 

Then must follow a burden of grace. 

This is the result of transfer : you may lay your burden of 
guilt and grief down at the feet of Jesus and take up the burden 
of grace ; your faith this moment may make the transfer. " I 
lay my sins on Jesus, the spotless Lamb of God." Faith connects 
the sinner with the Saviour. Jesus now waits your act of trans- 
fer. The burden of grace is prepared for universal wear ; all 
may bear it now and bear it gracefully ; the religion of Christ is 
not a license, but a law — the law of love ; grace is the ballast of 
the life ; it is the burden and restraint of a willing service ; " bur- 
dens of love are light." Jesus says, " Come unto Me, all ye that 
labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest ; take my 
yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in 
heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls; for My yoke is 
easy and My burden is light." This burden so light is also very 
enjoyable and beneficial, for David said, after his transfer: " Bless- 
ed be the Lord, who daily loadeth me with benefits, even the God 
of my salvation." This burden is available for all ; there is no 
difficulty in the way ; you may all put it on and wear it as your 
protection and beauty. 

Finally, there shall be a burden of glort. 

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for 
us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory." A weight 
of glory then ! Of this burden we cannot fully speak ; but we 
know that, as in the universe of law, there is a principle called 
gravitation, a subtle, mysterious power that draws all bodies and 
keeps an infallible balance from the centre ; so this " far more ex- 
ceeding and eternal weight of glory," by a mysterious, majestic 
power, is drawing our souls upward ; the burden of grace and 
the burden of glory have a secret affinity to each other ; but 
there is more weight above and so we rise ; the world recedes, it 
disappears ; heaven opens to our view ; sounds seraphic fall upon 
our ears, and we pass home to the centre of light and fife, 
evermore to live upon the golden glory that comes from the 
Word of the Lord. 

In conclusion. I plead with you to believe this "Word and 
accept the burdens it imposes. May the Lord help you. Amen, 



CHAPTER, XV. 



VALUE OF A SOUL. 



SERMON BY THE REV. WILLIAM S. RAINSFORD, B.A., (OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, 
ENGLAND,) ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 20, 1876. 



A tendency exists in us all to accept the privileges that now 
from our union with Christ, and shirk the responsibilities con- 
sequent on that union. I need scarcely remind you that true con- 
version to God alters the motives and cause of Christian working 
from a legal motive to a loving motive, so that work before under- 
taken as a duty, becomes a labor of love. 

But true conversion must be followed not only by a change 
in our reasons for work, but a change in our desire for work. We 
can no longer stand all the day idle. Jesus has hired us and 
over our redeemed shoulders cast the sweet, light yoke of His 
love, so that our experience daily reveals to ourselves and the 
world the fact that grace creates effort and does not supercede it. 

I believe that God applies one test to all Christian work, and 
only one, — that is, its success in winning souls. Now here, I do 
not wish to be misunderstood. I hear some poor child of God 
say, " Ah well, then indeed my place in the glory will be a low one, 
and my reward small. I cannot say I have won many souls, may be 
not one. How I wish I was like some great preacher, to whom 
thousands trace their conversion." Yes, I know men talk thus, 
but they make a mistake, and a great one. I confess I feel very 
strongly, when I hear some one say " Ah, Mr. So-and-So, he has 
won hundreds of souls, far more than Mr. So-and-So." I say 
again, who can tell? What man can step in and award what the 
great Judge of the universe claims as His sole prerogative—" the 
day " shall declare it — and till that searching day come, " when 
every man's work shall be tried, what sort it is," " and the hidden 
counsels of man's heart shall be manifested," let us leave awards 



THE VALUE OF A SOUL. 127 

alone, remembering that it shall witness the complete reversal of 
all human judgment, " for the last shall be first, and the first last." 

But for this matter of winning souls, let me make my meaning 
plain by means of an illustration. Some weeks back, near Lake 
Erie, a farmer took me into his field to see a new reaping machine 
at work, and explained to me, with pride, that it would cut fifteen 
acres a day. Now, suppose that when the sheaves of those acres 
lay cut and ready to be carried away, the hired laborer who cut 
them with the machine, had brought his wagon and carted them 
all to his own home, and claimed the harvest because he had cut 
it ! What, do you think, would my friend, the farmer, have had 
to say to him? Nay; it was his land, his seed, his machine, his 
harvest; and as to the laborer, true, he had cut it down, but 
what of that ? How many others had a hand in the production of 
the golden grain ? Long months back, in the cold and wet, a 
man had ploughed the land; then came another, who sowed the 
good seed ; then, as Spring came on, (if it's the same as in my 
country,) there came a. little boy, and day after day did his work 
of scaring the crows away. Then it had to be weeded, and many 
other workers employed before the sheaves made glad the farm- 
er's heart. And do you tliink the reaper, coming in a day, going 
in a day, cutting down fifteen whole acres in a day, shall have all 
the credit ? I say, when the King distributes the awards of Eter- 
nity among His army, He won't forget one who had but a little 
part in raising that harvest that is to satisfy Him for the travail 
of His soul ; no, not even the little boy that scared the crows 
shall be forgotten. 

I was sitting once at breakfast with a company of earnest work- 
ing Christians, and this subject of the seemingly comparative suc- 
cess of some and failure of others in winning souls, came up. I 
said, that it seemed to me not so much a question of how many 
souls one man saved, but how many men were employed in win- 
ning one soul; and I found out, long after, that God had used 
that simple word to comfort much, one weary working servant 
there. 

I firmly believe some of the most successful soul-winners are 
unknown to the church on earth; yet the beds of sickness, or the 
limited and unnoticed spheres where they are called on to labor, 
are the battle-fields where great and lasting triumphs — armies of 
saved souls — are w T on for God. 

Winning souls is laborious work. I find it compared not only 
to the varied toil of the husbandman, but to the life of the fisher- 
man, full of privation. His work necessitates constant activity, 
early and late ; when others are enjoying repose he must rise ; 
when others seek shelter from the storm, he must face it — not 
always in the calm you catch fish. I have seen our herring fisher- 



128 UNDER CANVAS. 

men, on the east coast of England, holding on to their nets in the 
wildest storm, while battered ships and diminished numbers in 
the morning, would bear sad testimony to the terrible dangers of 
the work. Oh, brothers and sisters in Christ, we are ail fisher- 
men, floating for a short day on a changeful sea, surrounded by 
dying men; every hour, if our eyes are open, wrecks float past us, 
from which we may save some. But, it's not child's play, this 
saving — this winning souls; we must be laborers. Not looking 
at the work as many do — in the light of a pastime — which we 
can undertake as an amateur painter does the profession of paint- 
ing — to wile away time — but as the work, the aim, the purpose 
of our lives ; the one thing in which if we fail, we shall feel the 
failure throughout all eternity. 

Go, labor on ; spend, and be spent, 

Thy joy to do thy Father's will, 
It is the way the Master went, 

Should not the servant tread it still? 

Toil on, and in thy toil rejoice ; 

For toil, comes rest, — for exile, Home ; 
Soon shalt thou hear the Bridegroom's voice, 

The midnight cry, behold, 1 come ! 

I have looked at the salvation of a soul as the great object of 
the church of Christ's work here. This indicates its value. But 
more than this. I see the value of a soul by the relation 
God enters into with regard to it. He never sought a kingdom — 
never looked for man's praise or honor. But He who was the 
form of God, who thought it not a thing to be grasped at (since it 
was already His) to be equal witli God — made Himself of no 
reputation ; took the form of a servant ; w^as made in the like- 
ness of man — yet, wonder of wonders, the scale still descends, 
and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself and be- 
came obedient unto death — even the death of the cross. All to 
seek lost souls. What must he the value of a soul f 

The devil never seeks earthly honors that I read of. He 
knows their emptiness; but he goeth about as a roaring lion seek- 
ing to devour souls. What moist he the value of a soul f 

See what a soul is capable of? These bodies we value so 
highly are not capable of much ; they soon wear out, becoming 
as an old garment, torn, threadbare, moth-eaten : yes, soon I must 
lay the garment of this body aside. But then the soul shall have 
lost none of its vigor ; but, free from the body's restraint, as it 
were, renews its youth. 

I open this book of God. I see He who made this soul of 
mine sets a value on it. He says He intends it for an Eternal 
crown — a glorious Kingdom, out-lasting Eternity. Kay, more 
than this. It is to be fitted for the company of God Himself — 



THE VALUE OF A SOUL. 129 

and in me He finds that which nothing else created can give 
Him — a companion. 

What, oh, what, must be the value of a soull 
Surely he that winneth souls is wise. I come back to that 
word with which I started, " win? It is a sweet, a suggestive one. 
I read of winning a battle — and the word implies struggle fierce, 
deadly and exhausting — so bitter that the conquerers are hailed 
by friends and country as heroes to be loved and honored. Yes, 
souls must be won in battles long and fierce. Here the armies 
for and against Christ are real; battles real; death and life real; 
a real armor, needed to guard against a real danger. Here a 
man cannot saunter on in dressing-gown and slippers, for souls 
must BE WON. 

We speak of winning a race, and if any of you have ever 
taken part in a race or races as I have, you will bear me witness 
it is no child's play — more than passing enthusiasm is necessary 
to success. Self-denial has its place, training its place, and 
last but not least, going on when you are tired — Thus we must 
win souls. 

But there is one more common use of the word. I suppose 
in this latter connection it is employed more frequently than in all 
the others — win love. A man wins his bride ; sometimes slowly 
and by almost imperceptible degrees he attaches her love to him- 
self, till at length she confesses it, is won, and proves her love by 
a willing self -surrender. God teach us each thus to win souls. 
It needs perseverance, long and sorely tried — but love suffereth 
long, and is kind. It needs Divine tact ; the wisdom that cometh 
down from above. Oh, it needs holy directness of aim, a 
directness that will not suffer itself to be diverted from its object 
by anything. God teach us to cast ourselves into the work of 
winning souls, as a man sets himself to win the love of a woman 
who commands his heart. I speak it with reverence : Let us 
learn to make love to souls for Jesus. 

This is a great subject, dear friends, and a man soon loses 
himself in its vastness. There are many things connected with 
soul-winning, I should like to speak about had I time, but there 
is one difficulty that seems to lie on the very threshold of our 
purpose to do God's will and obey His voice, in yielding our- 
selves more completely to Him for the blessed work. Here is an 
opportunity occurring to win a soul — it comes on me suddenly. In 
the daily routine of life, in business, in a railway car, some one 
is thrown across my path — he may not know Jesus — this soul may 
not be won. Shall I speak to him, loving and gently ? Yes, I 
ought — my conscience tells me that, and if I don't, when the 
precious opportunity is past I will be sorry for it. Eut then I 
don't feel up to it. Has not that foolish thought often staggered 



130 UNDER CANVAS. 

you 1 — it has me. I don't feel as if I could say anything ; my 
heart is not burning with love — and so on. 

I heard a story once, of a young preacher speaking to a large 
congregation in England. He did not seem to himself to get on 
at all ; the thoughts would not come, and when they did, why then 
the words wouldn't, and when he got through, he said to one of 
the old elders that he felt he had made a mess of it. The old 
man said, "God gave Gideon two signs, didn't He ? Yes, at one 
time a w r et fleece, and the ground all dry ; at another, the ground 
all wet and the fleece only dry ; " then he kindly added " would 
you not rather, dear young brother, be the dry fleece if the sur- 
rounding ground be all refreshed, than be refreshed yourself 
while all around you be dry \ " 

Ah, yes, friends, we don't walk by feeling, nor yet by sight, 
but faith. God does not need your refreshment, but He does w T ant 
others to be refreshed by you, and when you feel dry as an old 
bone, you are probably doing it. 

But now I must say a word to those who, in spite of God's 
prolonged entreaty, beginning almost at their cradle, and con- 
tinued till to-day, are still unsaved, unwon. How shall any 
poor words that my tongue can frame, convince of this deadly life- 
long mistake — this real risk you persist in running of eternal 
damnation. Has that unanswered question of Jesus no weight 
with you ? "What shall it profit a man if he should gain the 
whole world and lose his own soul ? " What should it profit in death ?• 
What should it profit in judgment f What should it profit in hell? 
You are, many of you, occupied several hours of the day consider- 
ing questions of profit ; consider this question of profit now. 

You have a house. It may be burned ; it may be wrecked to- 
night. A few years your lease will have expired and you must 
part with it ; or, before that comes, they may carry you from its 
doors, and it parts with you, but the possession of that house 
cost some of you far more careful thought, more consideration, 
than your immortal soul. Yes ; you took pains to make sure that 
your title to that bit of ground, 30 feet x 100, and the stones and 
mortar erected on it, was good ; that you had security for it, 
while for a soul, vast as eternity itself, at this moment you have 
no security whatever — none, absolutely none ! 

Oh man, think on the value of thy soul ! Many bitter tears 
have been shed over lost wealth — but it may be regained. 

Sad to see a man lose health, but, blessed be God, there is a 
land where they never say, I am sick — there he may bid good-bye 
to pain. 

Sadder still to see a lost reputation — but even for this there is 
a solace — since Jesus receives a man without any reputation. 

But if a man dies without Christ, ah, then indeed, I can find 



THE VALUE OF A SOUL. 131 

no ground of comfort, no vestige of hope. Now the saltest 
tear you can shed is none too bitter. You stand by the grave of 
a lost soul ! 

Oh man, may the present Spirit of God make this truth real to 
you now. You see a boy swing a stone round his head in a sling 
— thy soul is as that stone — the moment that frail thread of life 
snaps, forth flies thy soul — but where ? where ? 

I was walking down the street of a large town in the east of 
England lately, my thoughts running on the subject I have tried 
to speak to you to-night about, when my eye caught sight of a 
notice in an adjoining shop window — " Good workmen wanted" 
Ah, thought, I, our Lord Jesus seems to put up another and say 
" Good workmen wanted ; " men wise in counsel, warm of heart, 
strong of body, the best of earth's intellect ; men who will sanc- 
tify wisdom, opportunity, gifts, wealth, all ! all ! for Jesus and 
the souls of men. 

I passed on, and in another window saw " Women and girls 
wanted" and so I again thought our Jesus in His great harvest 
field needs help of all. Oh, women, good, pure, loving women, Jesus 
needs you. He accepted woman's service when on earth, He 
demands it now. His members weak, sin-smitten, helpless, shud- 
dering under the shadow of death, still remain here. Any ser- 
vice done to them, He enters it as done to Himself. "Won't you 
do your great part in winning, as you only can win, perishing 
souls ? 

And yet one more notice 1 saw at the foot of the street. "Good 
workmen wanted. None but good icorkmen need apply." Ah 
thought I then, Jesus never said any such thing as that. He 
takes them bad and good, all who come ; they may have only a 
few years, the tail end of a mis-spent life to give. He won't turn 
them back. And if they don't know the trade at all, why even 
then He bids them welcome, and under His teaching they soon 
will learn. Yes " Somebody wanted" that is the cry. Some- 
body wanted — to be a fellow-worker with the Eternal God, in sav- 
ing His fellows ; somebody wanted who will make all things 
second to this great thing. May each from his very heart say : — 
Here am I, Oh Lord, teach, and send me. 



CHAPTER XVI. 



HOW TO PLEASE GOD 



SERMON BY THE REV. WILLIAM HUMPSTONE, ON TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1876. 



" But without faith it is impossible to please Him : For he that cometh to 
God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently 
seek Him." — Heb. xi., 6. 

That it is possible to please God, and also to know when we 
do so, the context fully declares ; for by faith Enoch w T as trans 
lated that he should not see death, and was not found, because 
God had translated him, for before his translation he had this 
testimony, that he pleased God. 

If we imitate Enoch in faith and obedience, we shall please 
God, and be conscious that we do so. That it is the imperative 
duty of all men to please God will appear from the following con- 
siderations: God is oar Father, for Scripture tells us that He is 
the Father of the spirits of all men ; and what right-minded father 
is there who does not expect his children to do what will please 
him ? God is our Master ; for the Scriptures teach that He is the 
Master of all men ; and what master does not expect his servants 
to please him? God is a Sovereign ; for He is King of Kings, and 
Lord of Lords; and what sovereign does not expect his subjects to 
please him by obedience to his laws ? But though it is the im- 
perative duty of all men to please God, yet, how many are living 
as if there were no God, and they had no one to please but 
themselves? Yet, such never satisfactorily please themselves, 
because they will not do what will please God. Even amongst those 
whose souls have been quickened by the Holy Spirit, and whose 
consciences have been aroused, how few really succeed in pleasing 
God, because they do not begin in the right way ? One man 
thinks he can please God by giving largely of his substance for 



HOW TO PLEASE GOD. 133 

charitable and religious purposes, while he is living in sin. Though 
lie ought to give his money for charitable and religious purposes, 
he should remember that he is only a steward of God's wealth, 
and that the right discharge of one duty can never atone for the 
neglect of another. The apostle affirms, — " Though I bestow all 
my goods to feed the poor, and give my body to be burned and 
have not charity, it proflteth me nothing." And what is charity ? 
The word in the original, signifies love — the love of God wdiich is 
shed abroad in the heart of every believer, by the Holy Ghost. 
Then, where there is no holy love, there is no faith ; and without 
faith it is impossible to please God. Another man thinks he can 
please God by speaking w^ell of religion and of religious people, 
and by speaking reverently and eloquently of God's Word. Men 
ought to speak well of whatever is good ; and speak reverently of 
God, and dispense God's Word in the best possible manner. Yet 
it is w r ritten, — " Though I speak with the tongues of men and of 
angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass and a 
tinkling cymbal." Moreover, a very large class of persons seem to 
think that they can please God by simply giving attention to 
religious ordinances, such as reading the Bible, saying or reading 
their prayers, being baptized, uniting with the Church and receiv- 
ing the Lord's Supper. Though these things are right, we should 
remember that they are but means to an end, and that faith in 
God is the very beginning of a life of godliness ; and that what- 
ever we are, and whatever we do, without faith it is impossible to 
please God. We may be very learned, or very illiterate ; we may 
be very kind and very polite, and do much that the world admires, 
but we can never please God without true faith in Him. 

That we may have clear views on this important subject, and 
know whether we possess what is so pleasing to God, we proceed 
to answer the question, — " What is Faith ?" 

It has been said that faith is taking God at His word. But 
this is not a complete definition. True faith is not a mere senti- 
ment, but a principle, that leads to holy action ; it is related to 
the intellect, but specially to the affections ; for, with the heart 
man belie veth unto righteousness. True faith is taking God at 
His word and doing what He commands. Numerous Scriptures 
show the connection between faith and corresponding works. St. 
Paul says : " This is a faithful saying, and these things I will 
that thou affirm constantly, that they wdrich have believed in God 
might be careful to maintain good works." 

From the chapter containing our text we learn that by faith, 
Noah being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with 
fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he 
condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness which 
is by faith. How did Noah build an ark by faith ? God said 



134 UJSTDKK CANVAS. 

unto Noah, "The end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth 
is filled with violence through them ; and behold, I will destroy 
them with the earth. Make thee an ark of gopher wood .... 
And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth 
to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life, from under 
heaven, and everything that is within the earth shall die. But 
with thee will I establish My covenant ; and thou shall come into 
the ark, thou and thy sons, and thy wife, and thy sons' wives 
with thee." Noah believed God — took God at His word — but 
did not rest there, fold his arms and rejoice that God would 
destroy the earth, but would save him and his house. Had he 
acted thus he would have been drowned. Therefore, believing 
what God had said, he began to do just what God commanded. 
When the ark was finished Noah entered into it with his family 
and waited for the fulfilment of God's word. When God had 
shut the door of the ark the clouds gathered, the lightning 
flashed, the thunder roared, the rain descended, the fountains 
of the great deep were broken up, the antidiluvians were 
drowned. But Noah's confidence in God and accompanying 
obedience saved his house and condemned the world, and he be- 
came heir of the righteousness which is by faith. Moreover, by 
faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they were compassed 
about seven days. How by faith ? The king of Jericho had 
heard that the children of Israel were to pass through Jericho, 
and of the terrible devastation that had followed in their train ; 
how for their sakes God had subdued kingdoms and destroyed 
kings. Being afraid, the king determined that the children of 
Israel should not pass through Jericho. The city being fortified 
with high and massive walls, he ordered the gates to be closed. 
On reaching the city, Joshua, the commander of Israel, saw a 
man standing with a drawn sword in his hand, and, walking up 
to him he said: " Art thou for us or for our adversaries? And he 
said, nay, but as captain or prince of the host of the Lord am I 
now come. Joshua fell on his face to the earth and did 
worship, and said unto him, what saith my Lord unto thy 
servant ? And the captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, 
loose thy shoe from off thy foot, for the place whereon thou 
standest is holy; and Joshua did so. And the Lord said 
unto Joshua, see, I have given into thine hand Jericho and 
the king thereof, and the mighty men of power, and ye shall 
compass the city. All ye men of war go around about the city 
once ; thus shalt thou do six days. And seven priests shall bear 
before the ark seven trumpets of ram's horns ; and the seventh 
day ye shall compass the city seven times, and the priests shall 
blow with the trumpets and it shall come to pass that w T hen they 
make a long blow with the ram's horn, and when ye hear the 



HOW TO PLEASE GOD. 135 

sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great 
shout and the wall of the city shall fall down flat; and the peo- 
ple shall ascend up, everyone straight before him." Joshua, be- 
lieving what God said, did as He had commanded. Now, there 
can be no doubt that the people of Jericho and their king- 
rejoiced greatly that they lived in a fortified city, and were able 
to keep out the invaders. But when the children of Israel had 
compassed the seventh time, and the priests had blown the great 
blasts of their trumpets, Joshua cried unto all the people, " shout, 
for the Lord hath given ns the city ; " and down went the walls 
of Jericho; and the people of God entered into the city. Thus, by 
faith in connection with obedience, did the walls of Jericho fall. 

But while true faith is a motive power, inciting to holy action, 
it is also a revealing medium, making the past and future present, 
and bringing what is distant nigh. Faith is the ground, or con- 
fidence of things hoped for, the assurance of things not seen ; 
and when exercised, the clouds disperse, the shadows fly, what is 
invisible appears, and. God is seen. Though Christ had ascended 
to heaven, alluding to what faith accomplishes, St. Paul says, 
" We see Jesus" Believing, they beheld the Lamb of God which 
taketh away the sins of the world. 

Faith being to the mind what eyes are to the body, by it we 
look back to the stable in Bethlehem, and see Jesus lying in 
a manger ; the wise men from the east paying Him homage by 
presenting gifts of gold and of frankincense and myrrh. By 
faith, we see Jesus in the temple, when but twelve years old, 
asking questions and giving answers that astonished the learned 
doctors. By faith, we see Jesus at the age of 30 baptised by 
John in the river Jordon. By faith, we see the heavens opened 
and hear the voice of God saying : " This is My beloved Son, in 
whom I am well pleased." By faith, we see Jesus in the garden 
of Gethsemane, in an agony of soul, praying and sweating as it 
were great drops of blood falling to the ground. By faith, we 
see the cross placed upon His lacerated back, that He may bear 
it to the place of execution. By faith, we see Him secured to 
the cross by nails driven through His hands and feet, and extend- 
ed between heaven and earth, between two thieves, as though He 
were the vilest of the three. By faith, we hear the grandest cry 
the world ever heard, " It is finished ! " By faith, we see Him 
when dead, taken down from the cross and laid in the sepulchre. 
By faith, we see Him rise again and show Himself openly by 
many infallible proofs to chosen witnesses. By faith, we see Him 
lead His disciples to a mountain in Galilee, and having given 
them His last great commission to evangelize the world, we see 
Him ascend into heaven and sit down at the right hand of the 
throne of God until His enemies become His foot-stool. By 






136 UNDER CANVAS. 

faith, we see God the Judge of all, and Jesus the Mediator 
of the New Covenant, and the spirits of the ]ust made perfect, 
with all the holy angels. 

By faith we see the pearly gates of the New Jerusalem, the 
walls of jasper, the streets of gold, and the city of our God, which 
is to be the everlasting home of all the saints. By faith we look 
down into that infernal world, which in the Bible is called hell, 
which is the everlasting home of the devil and all his angels, and 
of every finally impenitent son and daughter of Adam ; where 
there is anguish, and weeping and wailing, that cannot be de- 
scribed. O ! sirs, this is the everlasting punishment that awaits 
all those who die in unbelief. Children of pious parents, do you 
wonder why they are so much more anxious for your salvation 
than you are to be saved ? It is because they see the glorious 
heaven which you are likely to lose, and the terrible hell into 
which you are likely to fall, and the terrible torments you 
must eternally endure. People of the world, do you wonder 
at the anxiety of pious ministers on your account ? It is 
because they see the punishment awaiting you, and are 
anxious to pluck you as brands from the burning. How could it 
be otherwise, when the spiritual things, which they see by faith, 
are real and eternal ; while the things which you see and upon 
which you have set your affections, are but temporal and must 
^oon pass away ? 

But faith is not only a principle inciting to righteous action, 
aud a principle or medium of light, it is also a principle from 
which emanates holy love. Faith works by love, and purifies the 
heart. By faith we see that God so loved us that he incarnated 
Himself to suffer in our stead, that we might not suffer eternal 
fire. And beholding the manner of love which the Father hath 
bestowed upon us, we love Him, who has so loved us as to give 
His only begotten Son to be the propitiation of our sins ; and lov- 
ing Him, we also love those who are begotten of Him ; for by this 
all men know that they are the sons of God when they have love 
one for another. For, how can we love God, whom we have not 
seen, if we do not love our brethren, whom we do see? Remem- 
ber, dear friends, that there are two things in the text to be be- 
lieved, and the first is the existence of God ; for he that cometh 
unto Him must believe that He is. Oh, sirs, you will never 
come to God until you have settled convictions of His existence. 
Do you ask how can I have this faith ? God answers, " Lift up 
your eyes to the heavens, and behold the moon and the stars, which 
are the works of My hands." See there worlds revolving around 
worlds with a velocity of speed which almost baffles computation, 
and then ask yourselves " Is there no God ? " Then turn to His 
Book and read, " The heavens declare the glory of God." By 



HOW TO PLEASE GOD. 137 

the things which He has made, He has declared His eternal 
power and God-head. And then take your stand on the sea- 
shore, and behold there water enough to drown the whole world, 
staying in its own place, with no bound but God's decree, who 
has said, "Here shalt thou come, but no farther, and there shall 
thy proud waves be stayed." 

Beloved, a just consideration of these truths will lead you into 
a settled conviction of God's eternal existence. And seeing that 
there is a God, you will feel that He is holy, and that you are 
unholy ; and feel also as the apostle felt when he said, " Yile 
man, that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death ? " 
As the prophet felt, when he said, "Woe is me, for I am un- 
done ; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of 
a people with unclean lips." As the Jews felt on the day of 
Pentecost, when they cried unto the apostles, " Men and brethren, 
what shall we do?" And also, as the Philippian jailer trem- 
blingly felt when he cried, " Sirs, what must I do to be saved ?" 
If you thus realize your sinfulness and helplessness, you are pre- 
pared for the second truth to be believed on : " That God is a 
rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." It will not be 
necessary to tell you to seek the Lord, for the anguish of your 
broken heart will be, " Oh, where shall I find Him whom my 
soul desires to love." This faith will move you towards God 
with a penitent heart. It maybe tremblingly, at first, but you will 
soon experience that He is ready to forgive and mighty to save. 
You will then feel as the Psalmist did, when he said "Who have 
I in heaven but Thee, and there is none on earth that I desire 
besides Thee." And with Isaiah, you will say " O, Lord, I will 
praise Thee ; for though Thou wast angry with me, Thine anger 
is turned away, and behold, Thou comfortest me." 

In conclusion : — 

Ob, believe the record true, — 

God, to you, His Son has given, 
You may now be happy too, 

Live on earth the life of heaven. 



OHAPTER XVII. 



CHRIST'S APPEAL FOR ADMISSION. 



SERMON BY KEV. J. W. BONHAM, CHURCH EVANGELIST, ON MONDAY, 

august 28, 1876. 



" Behold, I stand at the door and knock : if any man will hear My voice and 
open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." — 
Bev. lit., 20. 

Some of the most precious truths of the gospel are contained 
in the Book of Revelation, which commences with the sublime 
announcement, " The revelation of Jesus Christ." In the gospels 
we read of the Saviour's sufferings and sin-atoning death. In the 
Book of Revelation, we read of the Saviour's glorious triumphs, 
and of Satan's dethronement. 

Our text, which was addressed to the lapsed members of the 
church in Laodicea, is the gospel intensified and its terms reversed. 
For though we should seek Christ, He seeks us ! Though we 
should seek Christ's banquet, He seeks ours ! Though we should 
beseech Him, He implores us ! And, while there is no essential 
difference between our going to Christ for mercy and Christ 
coming to us with mercy, or, between the Saviour inviting and 
the Saviour knocking, yet, the contrast developed by our text 
shows that the Saviour not only calls after us, saying, " Come 
unto Me, all ye who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest," but also comes after us like the good Shepherd seeking 
lost and wandering sheep. 

Though the sinner is exposed to the broken laws' penalty, the 
Saviour's knock at his affections is not the knock of Jehovah's 
Justice, appalling the soul with terror, but the knock of Sovereign 
mercy. That the knock might neither awe nor frighten, it is 
accompanied by a gracious voice virtually saying : See ! Look ! 
Give attention ! I, who am the High and lofty One, and yet your 



Christ's appeal for admission. 139 

Redeemer ! I, not a minister of wrath, but the crucified, risen, 
and interceding Saviour, "behold, Zstand at the door and knock." 

In the home of a devoted Christian, in Oxford, England, I 
saw the original painting by the renowned artist, Holman Hunt, 
entitled " The Light of the World." The picture represents the 
Saviour knocking at a door with one hand, and in the other hold- 
ing a lamp that lightens up the darkness. Tangled weeds twine 
around the threshold of the door- way at which Christ stands and 
listens for an answer to His gracious knock. Moonbeams flicker 
through the waving branches overhead, and shine upon His thorn- 
crowned brow and oriental robe. The attitude and anxious look 
of holy love make the picture speak, saying, open now the door 
and receive great riches. In tones of wondrous love, the Saviour 
is now pleading for admission at your bolted heart ; and the sen- 
tence " Behold, I stand at the door and knock " may be interpre- 
ted to denote God 's providential dealings to allure you to set your 
affection on things above. To reveal to you the transient nature 
of the things of earth, God gave wings to your riches and frus- 
trated your cherished plans. That freezing touch of disappoint- 
ment was a providential knock, warning you that the things 
which are seen are temporal ; that we brought nothing into this 
world, neither may we carry anything out. 

At your door Christ knocked when you stood by the bedside 
of your dying mother. Anxious for your eternal welfare, and 
yearning for your salvation, she said, " 0, do love the precious 
Saviour and meet me in heaven." This was her last appeal, and 
you heard her desire for your welfare in faltering accents of love 
struggling in death. You felt the farewell but thrilling pressure 
of her hand, and saw her once beaming eyes closed in death. 
Surely, that solemn parting scene was a providential visitation 
to arouse you to a sense of your condition, and to prevail on you 
to follow in the footsteps of your devoted mother, and to fulfill 
her desire — " Meet me in heaven /" 

At your door the Saviour knocked when you lost that beloved 
child, whose prattling tongue charmed you, and whose cheerful 
presence gladdened all around. He who said " Suffer the little 
children to come unto Me," took to Himself the darling of 
your heart to allure your thoughts heavenward. And as " the 
harp of heaven had lacked its least, but not its meanest strings 
had children not been taught to play upon it," your beloved child 
was borne by angels to the company of celestial harpers. You 
viewed this bereavement as a judgment. Your heart almost 
rebelled. You did not say " Thy will, O God, be done." You 
did not sing : 

God gave, God took, God will restore ; 
He doeth all things well. 



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Because thou wast unprepared to die, God, in mercy, 
called thy child instead of calling thee. To arrest thee in thy 
course and draw thy thoughts above, He took to Himself the 
darling of thine heart. And as you think of that lovely flower, 
transplanted to the Paradise of God, forget not that His providen- 
tial knock was a knock of love, to draw your thoughts to the 
celestial garden above, where your transplanted flower shall bud 
and bloom in the radiance of heaven for ever and ever. 

But while Mercy has knocked at some doors by adversity, He 
is knocking at other doors by prosperity. While others have 
been tossed on the sea of sorrow, you have sailed calmly and en- 
joyed constant sunshine. But though you are indebted to God 
for every good and perfect gift, you have not said, "Take my poor 
heart and make it Thine abode." Now, as your heart will soon 
be pierced by affliction, and the eup of sorrow be placed to your 
lips, that you may then enjoy the consolations of the gospel and 
cast your burden on the Lord, Christ says : " Behold, I stand at 
your door and knock ; for in the world ye shall have tribulation, 
but in Me you may find peace." 

But while God's providential dealings may be denoted by the 
declaration, " Behold, I stand at the door and knock," His 
gracious voice may denote the means provided to bring salvation. 
When the sceptre of the universe was placed in the risen Saviour's 
hands, He commissioned His ministers to preach the gospel to 
every creature. And Christ knocks at the heart by the procla- 
mation of the gospel, assuring the sinner that Christ is able to 
save to the uttermost, or completely and eternally ; that those who 
come unto Him He will in no-wise cast out ; and that whosoever 
will may take of the water of life freely ! Because Christ's am- 
bassadors love your souls, they beseech you to be reconciled to 
God ; plead with you to withdraw the bolts of spiritual igno- 
rance, and of love for things that perish, and of reigning sin ; 
urge you to pray " Create in me a clean heart, O God, and re- 
new a right spirit within me " ; and implore you to unlock the 
door of your cell of condemnation by the key of faith in Christ's 
atoning blood. To avoid placing you in the condition of one slum- 
bering soundly while his house is in flames, God's ministers warn 
with pathos and plead with earnestness, and obey the inspired 
mandate, " Cry aloud and spare not, and lift up thy voice like a 
trumpet." 

Christ also pleads for admission to the heart through the 
voice of conscience. Though conscience is not an infallible 
guide, because impaired through sin, it still proclaims that God's 
laws ought to be obeyed, His name honored, and His Son 
received. It also whispers that the Bible is of celestial origin, 
and, therefore, true 2 though you cannot answer its objections, 



Christ's appeal for admission. 141 

disperse its difficulties, nor solve its mysteries. Those who reject 
revelation, because of its mysteries, have been requested to explain 
the structure of the human eye and the philosophy of seeing ; 
the mysterious union between body and soul ; the connection be- 
tween the decisions of the mind and the obedient actions of the 
body ; the wonderful analogy between the sounds of the voice and 
the thoughts of the mind. Surely there is a little mystery con- 
nected with the variations in sounds perfectly representing what 
the mind thinks. As I now speak the atmosphere vibrates my 
thoughts and brings our minds into mysterious communion. As 
much really exists that man cannot explain, while man cannot 
solve all the mysteries clustering around inspiration and revela- 
tion, yet an inspired revelation of God's will exists, and its truths 
knock at the heart, urging you to be reconciled to God. 

The voice of conscience re-echoes the precepts, promises, warn- 
ings and threatenings of God's holy Word. Though you may 
tt deny your conscience by doubting what you hope may not be 
true, and deafen its voice by constant sinning, yet you cannot 
obliterate nor dethrone it. Why do the guilty flee when no man 
pursueth ? Why does the burglar start at the sound of his own 
footstep % Why do undetected transgressors deliver themselves 
up to the officers of justice ? Why do hearers insist that the 
minister is personal, that he has learned of their secret doings 
and is preaching at them ? Why does the sinner in Zion hear a voice 
within louder than the preacher's voice, saying " that duty thou 
hast neglected and that sin thou hast committed ?" Should you now 
bid conscience slumber when the cry shall be heard " This 
night thy soul shall be required of thee," it will be startled by 
the crash of dissolving humanity and fiercely upbraid you that 
when the Saviour knocked, you would not admit Him. But 
while Christ's ambassadors beseech you to be reconciled to God, 
and to love Him because He first loved you, and conscience re- 
echoes the warnings of justice and the pleadings of mercy, 
Christ's desire to save you has been whispered by the voice of 
the Holy Spirit. God planned the atonement that the Saviour 
achieved, and the Holy Ghost prepares the heart for its reception 
and applies all its benefits. The Holy Spirit who strives, warns, 
enlightens, convicts, allures and comforts, has striven with you to 
turn from Satan unto God, and accept the eternal life that is in 
His Son. If you will now listen to the Spirit's wooing voice, He 
will impart life and holy energy, and help your infirmities, and 
though His action will be invisible as the wind making the tree 
branches wave, and wafting the fragrance of flowers, the effects 
will be apparent. " The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou 
hear est the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and 
whither it goeth : So is every one that is born of the Spirit." 



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Yield thou to the strivings of the Holy Spirit, and behold 
what He reveals, and obey Christ's voice, and you will know ex- 
perimentally what is meant by the declaration, " I will come in 
to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." Enthrone thou 
the Saviour, and the Holy Ghost will apply the benefits flowing 
from Christ's atonement, the pardon of all sin, the impartation of 
peace that passeth understanding, the assurance of acquittal at 
the judgment seat, and a welcome to a sinless, sorrowless and 
eternal home, where every eye is tearless, and bright with 
holy rapture, where every heart is sorrowless, and thrills with 
holy joy, where every voice is joyful, and sings with holy ecstacy, 
where all unite in the oratorio of the ransomed, striking golden 
harps, and where all gladly sing " Unto Him who loved us, and 
washed us from our sins in His own blood, be praise and dominion 
forever and ever." 

The Instruction. 

Because we cannot save ourselves, nor remove our guilt, 
nor purchase pardon, and each needs a Saviour able to save* 
from the guilt and power and penalty of sin, the Saviour 
who is mighty to save, has proved His willingness to save 
by drawing very near. But, though He knocks at the heart by 
blessings, afflictions, and all the means of grace, and assures that 
He designs to bless and not to curse, yet by multitudes His knock 
and voice are disregarded. And while a life-long gratitude is felt 
for a benefactor who has considered our individual case with 
special care, and made provision for needful wants, the Saviour, 
who knocks at the heart with one hand, and in the other holds 
unsearchable riches, is treated with indifference, and allowed to 
wander from door to door, as a homeless stranger ! The door of 
the affections is opened wide to welcome the world and the flesh 
and the devil, but is closed and barred against Christ and holi- 
ness and heaven ! Though He has provided salvation for the 
world, through the world He is allowed to wander as the rejected 
Saviour, saying, u Ye will not come unto Me, that ye might 
have life." 

Christ is present here, knocking — knocking. He is at your 
door, waiting — waiting. You have turned a deaf ear to His pre- 
vious providential knocks ; but, He now, in mercy, knocks again. 
You have refused to listen to His voice of holy love ; but in love- 
tones He speaks once more. If you admit Him, saying, " Come 
in, celestial Guest, come in," all the riches of His grace are yours ; 
but if you reject Him, yours will be eternal banishment. And 
should you be numbered with the lost, you will be stung by the 
conviction that you are self-ruined. It is affirmed that there is 
not a soul among the lost to whom Christ has not said, " Listen 
to Me, and it shall be well with thee." There is not a soul among 



Christ's appeal for admission. 143 

them who has not turned away, and said, " I will not listen to 
Thee ; I will not obey Thee." 

Before you reach that dread abode, I call heaven and earth to 
witness that all the means of salvation have been brought to you, 
and mercy placed within your reach. You have repeatedly heard 
that God loves you ; that Christ died for you ; that the Holy 
Ghost wants to comfort you. But because you have despised 
God's love, rejected His Son, and resisted the Holy Spirit, great 
is your danger, and very great your condemnation. If lost through 
keeping your heart barred against the only Saviour, instead of 
singing the Gloria Patri in heaven you will lament in hell that 
though ruined forever, you destroyed yourself. But though 
your sun is setting, and the shadows of night are gathering, and 
your day of mercy is fast drawing to a close, we rejoice that you 
have not quite crossed the boundary of your short probation. As 
the door of mercy is not yet closed, I implore you to refuse no 
longer to listen to God's voice of love ; refuse no longer the mer • 
ciful Saviour ; resist no longer the gracious strivings of the Holy 
Spirit ; for it may be now or never ! 

With glories on His brow, compassion in His eyes, celestial 
music in His voice, and eternal riches in His hand, the heavenly 
Suppliant now offers pardon for all your guilt, consolation for all 
your grief, and everlasting friendship. If you admit Him, saying, 

Take my poor heart, and let it be 
Forever closed to all but Thee, 

when you shall again hear the voice of an afflictive Providence, 
you will see the word love inscribed on every trial ; and will not 
mourn as those without hope, when death shall take your friends 
beloved. Welcome now the Saviour, and henceforth His min- 
isters will comfort you with the assurance that there is no con- 
demnation to them that are in Christ Jesus ; that all the awful 
threatenings are hushed forever, and that yours are all the prom- 
ises. Encircled by the attributes of the Lord Jehovah, Satan can- 
not overthrow you. Tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, 
nakedness, peril, sword, death, life, angels, principalities, powers, 
things present, things to come, height, depth, cannot separate the 
believer from the love of Christ, who now stands and knocks. 

Admit now the Saviour, and henceforth His holy Word will be 
sweeter to your soul than honey in the comb ; it will be a light 
to your feet, and a lamp to your path ; it will reveal the rich fruit 
of the tree of life hanging over your pathway, and the pure 
streams of the water of life flowing past your feet ; in it you will 
find joy for every grief, comfort for every sorrow, and hope for 
every fear ; it will be the powerful telescope through which, by 
the eye of faith, you may gaze at heaven's glories, see the 



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enthroned King, the sinless, tearless, sorrowless and deathless 
inhabitants, and obtain foretastes of the joys of fruition. 

Enthrone now the knocking and supplicating Saviour, and 
henceforth the scorpion sting of sin will no longer burn thy con- 
science. Instead of arraigning, convicting and condemning, 
Christ having satisfied for thee all the claims of the broken law, 
conscience will be hushed into calm repose. " Blessed is he whose 
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the 
man unto whom the Lord impute th not iniquity, and in whose 
spirit there is no guile." " There is therefore now no condemna- 
tion to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the 
flesh, but after the Spirit." 

Accept now the freedom from condemnation offered by the 
Saviour, and henceforth the Holy Spirit will impart joy and glad- 
ness. With the film removed from your eyes, and the guilt taken 
from your heart, you will not dread the Father's righteousness, 
nor fear His justice, nor be afraid to meet His Son when He shall 
appear in glory to summon the world to judgment. The illu- 
mining and purifying Spirit will be your Comforter, the Helper of 
your infirmities, your indwelling lnspirer to good works, your Fire 
of holy love, and your Teacher of prayer, who will utter your 
soul-longings as His own. 

God the Father is now knocking at each heart by the great- 
ness of His love. God the Son is now knocking by His free and 
full redemption. God the Holy Ghost is now knocking by His 
gracious strivings. The Holy Trinity have combined to save you, 
and united to allure you to be saved. Accept now the eternal 
life that is in Christ Jesus, and in the place of past estrangement 
will be mutual friendship, and you will enjoy the combined love 
of the indwelling Trinity. To open the door of the heart to 
Christ is to love Him , and to each who loves Him and keeps 
His commandments, the Son says : " My Father will love him, 
and vje will come unto him and make our abode with himP 

But, though " I will sup with him and he with Me," embod- 
ies the impartation of whatever is essential to present and to 
everlasting happiness, those who have decided not to open the 
door to Christ must be reminded that though the Saviour will not 
break open the door by forcing your will, you will hear another 
knock, and the door will be forced. 

Death comes on with reckless foot -steps 

To the hall and hut : 

Think you, death will tarry knocking 

Where the door is shut ? 

Jesus waiteth, waiteth, waiteth, ' 

But the door is fast, 

Grieved, away the Saviour goeth: 

Death Ireaka in at last ! 



FOR ADMISSION. 145 

Wherever you go and whatever you do, remember that " It is 
appointed unto man once to die, and after death the judg- 
ment.'' May the sunshine flash it and the night stars beam it, 
that during the brightness of the day and the darkness of the 
night you may be reminded that He who now implores admission 
at your heart will then be your judge. You must behold Him 
in His Almightiness, and be manifested before Him, and by Him 
be acquitted or condemned, and from Him receive a welcome 
into His kingdom, or everlasting banishment from His glorious 
presence. "He that hath the Son, hath life; he that hath not the 
Son, hath not life." On each Christless soul, the wrath of God 
abideth. If you disregard Christ's knock at your heart now, He 
will not hear your knock at His mercy-door then. 

Then 'tis time to stand entreating 
Christ to let thee in, 
At the gate of heaven beating 
Waiting for thy si a. 
Nay, alas, thou guilty creature ! 
Hast thou then forgot ? 
> Jesus waited long to know thee 
Now He knows thee not. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 



FINISHED SALVATION. 



SERMON BY THE REV. DANA M. WALCOTT, OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN 

CHURCH, RUTHERFORD PARK, NEW JERSEY, ON THURSDAY, 

AUGUST 31, 1876. 



" It is finished ! "—John xix., 30. 

The Christian religion is often called a finished salvation. It 
is plainly evident that bnt very few Christians or others practically 
believe it. The church and world are both full of waitino; souls, 
who seem to be expecting something to be done by God which 
He has left unfinished. They yet wait for some new revelation 
other thau that He has given, as if that were incomplete. They 
are hoping for a different gospel, probably because they feel they 
"are not as other men are," and therefore need a peculiar salvation 
to suit their individual experience. They are plainly not " common 
people," else they would hear Christ gladly. Let us consider then 
what is a finished salvation. Surely, that is a complete and 
finished salvation which does all it agrees to ! Not what we de- 
mand, but what its author promised. Whatever Christ's meaning 
was when He uttered these dying words, let us see if His senti- 
ment is not scripturally and spiritually true, as applied to the 
following thoughts, namely : I. His forgiveness ; II. our sin ; 
III. our conviction or sin. Surely, that must be safe to preach 
to men which seeks to stop men from sinning, and to " let His 
kingdom come, and His will be done on earth, as it is in heaven ? " 



FINISHED SALVATION. 147 

I. His forgiveness. — What is forgiveness, but giving Him- 
self for us ? Many seem to think it is the mere negative letting 
go of our just punishment, but that is only giving us His pardon. 
The central thought all through the scriptures is, that " He gave 
Himself for us." Not that He promised to, but has done it in 
the past, in old testament sacrifices and symbols, the "burning 
bush " and " pillar of fire," in the person of His servants the 
"prophets," and last of all, He sent His Son. The value in 
all these gifts was the God that dwelt in the offerings — His gift 
of Himself for us. It was no new gift, for the "Lamb was slain 
from the foundation of the world." God always had been giving 
Himself for us. And why ? What do we need Him for \ I do 
not say "want," but need, for alas ! men do not want Him. What 
else but to save us from committing sin; to keep us from daily 
wrong-doing; "to lead us not into temptation, but to deliver us 
from evil ? " What do men need more than to be made honest 
and right now, and that on this earth, and not by-and-bye in 
heaven. Who but God Himself can do that which He has offered 
to do ? But you say, "He has not forgiven me; He has not given 
Himself to me. I have not even asked Him to, and surely, He 
cannot give Himself for me if I do not ask or want Him to." 
Why not ? Do we not every day give to people, thoughts, pray- 
ers and sacrifices, which they neither ask for or want \ What- 
ever the theory, what are the facts? Did man want his own 
existence — yet did not God give it to him \ And did God wait 
till His own existence was wanted before He gave it ? Besides, 
is that a gift which we have to ask for ? Much more if we have 
to pay for it by any coin of ours. 

God's idea of righteousness is that we should have His right- 
eousness, and therefore He came to bring it in Himself ! " He is 
our Righteousness." He does not give us the power to become 
righteous ourselves — but " to as many as received Him, to them 
gave He power to become the sons of God." " And this is the 
record, that God hath given to us eternal life; and this life 
is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath 
not the Son hath not life." 

Man cannot keep himself from sin, and God bias him " Behold 
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world." 
This, then He has done — He has given us Himself, a complete 
Saviour, " able to keep that which is committed to His care." 
Not to theologians, but to sinners, has He given Himself, for they 
need Him. Not His plan of salvation has He given for men to 
wrangle over, but salvation — Himself. The Magi are a long 
time getting from His star to Himself who is nearer us than 
He ever was or can be to the stars. We are His image and 
incomplete, till He is in His image, and now, as He dies — having 



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given Himself in every other way — He does so in our nature, 
and for us sinners and He cries, "It isjlnishedl" 

II. Our Sin. — If God lias not given Himself for us, then we 
have yet to commit our greatest sin in rejecting Him. We are not 
to blame for not asking for what we do not want ; but when He has 
offered to us the gift of Himself, our greatest possible sin is then 
complete in "despising and rejecting Him." Many are waiting, 
thinking they have not yet committed any very great and heinous 
crime, but what greater sin can there be than in refusing to take 
Him at His word, "who offers to save His people from their sins?" 
It is not strange that the brutes should not receive Him, or pagans, 
but " He came unto His own, and His own received Him not." 
Here is where our condemnation begins — not under Sinai, but 
Calvary. He has thrust Himself upon man, and the question is 
forced upon him, " What shall I do then with Jesus, which is called 
Christ ? " He cannot stay on neutral ground ; the gift is put in 
his hands, and he must keep it or throw it away ! " He came, that 
we might have life." Mis life He has given for us ; what have 
we done with it ? His will, not only was, but is to-day, to live 
with us, and keep us from sin. If it is not ours, then have we 
not " denied the Holy One and Just ; and desired a murderer 
[self] to be granted us, and killed the Prince of Life ?" Who 
is most alive in us — Himself or ourself ? Whose life do we desire 
most — His or ours ? Whose will do we desire done in us — His or 
ours ? Have we not often hoped and wished His plans would not 
prevail, and begged for ours in place of His ? What is this but 
to cry, " Crucify Him, crucify Him?" Even to have kept 
silence in indifference, as if He were not the God of the Ameri- 
cans as well as the Jews, is also to crucify Him. Yet we have 
permitted others to lead Him away, who gave Himself for all men, 
" the Just for the unjust;" "who came to seek and to save that 
which was lost;" who calls Himself "the Friend of sinners." 
People say "I do not pretend to be 'good.' I make no pro- 
fession of saintliness. I am not interested in this matter, or 
responsible for His treatment." But you are just the one for 
whom He gave Himself — the sinner you profess to be — and 
you with wicked hands have rejected Him. 

Two thoughts centre at His cross, namely : God's gift of Him- 
self ; and man's refusal to take Him. To reject His "plan " or 
" theory " is not our sin ; but to deliberately choose " not to have 
this man to rule over us " — to refuse Him the daily keeping of 
our souls from sins — to refuse to own the sins which He has 
been faithful and just to give Himself for, what viler sin can 
stain such a heart, in any future that is possible ? Not to refuse 
to love Him, so much as to refuse to believe in His love ; and to 
say, by doubt, "He has not given Himself for me and my sins." 






FINISHED SALVATION. 149 

The heart that has now no God, Lover, Forgiver, Keeper, 
Saviour, Counsellor, Wisdom, Righteousness, Strength, Salvation, 
because it will not let the King of Glory in, is it "not already 
fully set in him to do evil ? " Such a " heart is deceitful above all 
things, and desperately wicked," and need not wait to become so. 
Its attitude has been and is against its own interests, and a thou- 
sand years of waiting can never make its sin more complete. To 
be despised and rejected of Him were more reasonable; but for 
Him to be despised and rejected of the very men He came to 
save may well make Him cry of all sin " It is finished ! " 

III. Conviction of Sin. But men say, " I am not conscious 
of any such sin. The Jews killed Him, not I. You say I am this 
great sinner, but I do not feel it. I am not yet convicted of sin. 
I wait for that." What is it to be convicted of sin except simply 
to be convinced that we do not believe in Christ? Where shall 
we look for that evidence but in our actions, that speak louder 
than words? God promises "to keep him in perfect peace, whose 
mind is stayed on Him." Have you perfect peace ? " They 
shall call His name Jesus, because He shall save His people from 
their sins." Are you safe from committing sin ? " Trust in the 
Lord Jehovah, in whom is everlasting strength." Have you 
everlasting strength — strength that never grows weak or fails? 

My friends, conviction of sin is not conviction of shame or 
remorse or sorrow because of sin, but it is conviction of sin. It 
is not conviction of feeling, but of "not believing." Christ says, 
" He, [the Holy Spirit] shall reprove the world of sin because they 
believe not on Me." Not because of what they do or do not do, 
or of what they do believe, but because they " do not believe on 
Me." "Whatsoever is not of faith, is sin." The Holy Spirit 
has done His work when He has proven that. Does the simple 
truth, facts, not feelings, prove our unbelief? If so, that is all the 
Spirit engaged to do. However dim or deep the conviction, it is 
finished ; however faint or overwhelming our feeling or lack of it 
— the lack of faith in Christ is proven, and that is enough. 

He came not to have His life taken away. "No man taketh 
My life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself." Did He not lay 
it down to prove plainly that we would not have it ? As soon as 
they had crucified Him they said, " surely this was the Son of 
God." None but God could lay down His life rather than tram- 
ple out that of His murderers, as He might have done. Behold, 
men parting His garments among them (i.e. His material wealth) ! 
Hear them crying piteously for ' His peace ! " See them begging 
to be taken to " His heaven," and yet rejecting Him! 

What means this wrangling over His theories, much more 
over ours, while w T e coolly ignore Him ? " He is our peace " — 
He is our salvation — not His plan, much less ours. 



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Patiently, He waits upon His cross till they stab Him. " If 
I had not come and done among them the works which no other 
man did, they had not had [known] sin, but now they have no 
cloak for their sin." " They have both seen and hated both 
Me and My Father, for I and My Father are one." They have 
despised and rejected Me — not I them — and they know "it is 
finished." 

/ What, then, is wanting? Do we wait for Him to come and 
forgive us, obedient to our many askings \ But He came, long 
before we were born, — much more before we asked Him to ! 
" Charity," says some one, " that comes for the asking, comes too 
late ! " Before man sinned, He gave Himself for man ; nor did 
He stop giving afterwards! Even on the cross, our Saviour still 
prayed " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do," 
i. e., still have Thy mercy, which endureth forever, and keep 
giving Thyself for them. Though the gift is the same yesterday, 
to-day, and forever, let the giving of Thyself be new every morn 
and fresh every even. 

Do we wait to commit some great sin, worthy of so great a 
Saviour and salvation ? But while we wait, we keep Him waiting. 
This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and 
men preferred the darkness [of doubt,] rather than the light, [of 
faith.] He has our life, we have our death. He has our right- 
eousness, we have our sin. Against Him, ourselves, and our 
neighbor, we sin daily in thus frustrating the grace of Grod. 

Do we wait to feel we are thus doubting ? But we are only 
asked to believe it. Peace and joy come not by believing we are 
sinners, but by believing He is our Saviour. 

"A sham Saviour," as says Spurgeon, "is for a sham sinner; 
a real Saviour for a real sinner." 

His gift of Himself is real. Our not having that saving power 
from sin is also terribly real ; and our knowledge of both facts 
clinches it all. These three things are finished : 1. — His for- 
giveness ; or giving of Himself to keep us from sin. 2. — Our 
rejection of that gift. 3. — And the bitter knowledge of it all. 
What more is needed to prepare us for Him, who was prepared 
for us before the foundation of the world ? 

Oh, friends, it is our doubt that needs finishing; our dreadful 
crucifixion of our Saviour ! You do it; alas, I do it. The angels 
wait to hear us cry of our wicked unbelief in Him, it is finished. 
" He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we did 
esteem Him stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But He was 
wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. 
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and with His stripes 
we are healed." How many more stripes shall we lay upon Him 
by our unbelief, before we shall be healed ? For Christ's sake, 



FINISHED SALVATION. 151 

would that to-day. His crucifixion was for us eternally finished ! 
What remains for me to do, but to trust Him to finish that which 
He has begun ; and not to undertake to finish it for Him ? What 
greater gift are we waiting for than that of His own life He hath 
given us in His Son ? "There remaineth therefore now no more 
sacrifice for sin." Hath He any offering greater than Himself ? 
" We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also, that 
ye receive not the grace of God in vain." For He saith, " I have 
heard thee in a time accepted ; and in the day of salvation have I 
succored thee; behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is 
the day of salvation." 

Nothing, either great or small, 
Remains for me to do, 

that I may work the works of God, but to believe on Him whom 
He hath sent, that " He may work in me to will and do of His 
good pleasure." In Him "dwelleth all the fulness of the God- 
head bodily, and ye are complete in Him ! " 



CHAPTER XIX. 



GOOD NEWS FROM A FAR COUNTRY. 



SERMON BY THE REV. STEPHEN H. TYNG, JR., D.D., ON SUNDAY SEPT. 3, 1876. 



" As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country." — Prov. 

xxv., 25. 

God's best gifts are very common-place things. They are so 
necessary to our existence and enjoyment that few men think 
enough about them to be thankful for them. They are so freely 
and faithfully bestowed that their absence or withdrawal is too 
often counted an act of personal injustice, and a sufficient ex- 
cuse for discontent and rebellion. They are so plainly the result 
of certain natural laws that most men fail to connect with them 
the thoughts and hand and power of God. Such daily and 
essential blessings are the air we breathe, the light which so 
delicately falls upon the eye and reveals the world about us, the 
health which courses through our veins and gives the glow of 
vigor in endeavor and endurance, the heat about which, in its arti- 
ficial form, we gather during the cold winter, and from which we 
find escape in the noon-day of the summer, but which in all its 
many relations is the force so essential to life — and water, that we 
drink for refreshment, in which we bathe for cleanliness, upon 
which we depend in all the arts of life, which, in the form of 
steam, is the great power that projects the machinery of man and 
the servant which carries him upon his every journey. You do 
not tell the whole story of cold water when you have described its 
chemistry, the particles of which it is composed, and the laws 
which combine them to produce the result, when yon have 
explained its attraction, as in the tides responding to the mysteri- 
ous power in the firmament, when you have calculated nicely its 



GOOD NEWS FROM A FAK COUNTRY. 153 

forces as it turns the turbine wheel and is resolved into a propel- 
ling power, when you have discriminated and multiplied in your cal- 
culations its uses in all the different relations of life. This is not 
the whole history of cold water. It rises on the wings of the sun 
from mid ocean, it floats in the fleecy clouds of heaven, it distils 
in the dew-drop, it patters in the rain, it is hoary in the snow-flake, 
it is vindictive, hateful, in the hail, it is full of cheer as the sun 
paints its own image upon the shower and the rainbow is formed. 
See it bubbling in the summer-time from the spring. Look at it 
laughing in the rivulet, which runs over the little pebbles in the 
brook. Listen to it roaring in the cataract, mighty in the river, 
noisy in the torrent. Behold the still surface of the lake, the 
only mirror God has given us on earth of His firmament on high. 
Unmoved in its quietness it tells of the rest of heaven. Cold 
water ! The flowers exhale it in their fragrance and their perfume, 
and imprison it in their fibre and their stalk. The beast of the 
forest and the field, as man himself, depend upon it for their breath 
and very life. God's great common-place gift to this world is 
cold water. 

And how few of us appreciate the blessing or trace it back to 
the bounty of its giver ! The traveler in the desert, overtaken 
by the deadly heat, looks most wistfully at the mirage of the 
fountain, and follows it with persistent effort only to be disap- 
pointed when he has reached the expected position in which his 
eye has seen it. Like a child chasing the foot of the rainbow, he 
never finds it. That poor friend of ours who has been bound 
these days and nights in the burning chains of fever, oh, how has 
he plead, while we have watched with him, for water, water, 
water! ice! something that shall cool the tip of his tongue. 
Then do we learn somewhat about this gift and the God who 
bestows it that we knew not before. The mower, in the heat and 
toil of the day, comes to the spring, and he has learned a lesson 
about this old blessing that could only have been taught by that 
experience. 

Dear friends, God giveth cold water to thirsty souls. Every 
time you taste a drop, remember Him whose great reservoir 
above supplies it, and who has in all the many forms of the con- 
duit applied it to your need. Poor Hagar, driven from the house 
which had been her home, hid under the shade of the tamarisk 
tree her son, for the water-skin was empty and he was dying of 
thirst. God sent His angel to point her to the fountain close by, 
and her child revived. Hagar owned the value of the gift just at 
that time. Israel wandered through the wilderness until at last 
they came to Horeb, and there, when famishing with thirst, Moses 
struck the rock and the water flowed out. "They drank of that 
rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ," says Paul. 



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Then they learned the value of the gift and what it meant spiritu- 
ally. David, standing with his host before the gates of Bethle- 
hem, captured by the Philistines, said : "Oh, that one would give 
me of the water of Bethlehem to drink ! " And three stalwart 
men urged their way in the face of death through the host, and 
drew of that old water that David had tasted when a boy in the 
home of Jesse of Bethlehem, and loved so well from old associa- 
tions. They brought it to him. He poured it out as a drink 
offering before the God who gave it, for it was the price of souls. 
Then, in the terrible parable of our Lord, we read the piteous 
lamentation of Dives in condemnation : " Send Lazarus that he 
may dip his finger in water and cool my tongue ! " — One drop ! 
But it was a part of his loss, that his soul, shut out from the 
knowledge of the goodness of God, could not share in any of its 
manifestations. 

Now this is a discovery plain to all experience — the blessed- 
ness of cold water to thirsty souls. "So," saith the Spirit, " is good 
news from a far country," how refreshing, how compensating, 
how invigorating it is ! This is a most familiar comparison. 
What relief and strength has good news brought to many of you 
during these times of panic, when you have supposed yourselves 
lost in the affairs and relations of this world, and some kindly 
message has relieved your perplexities and restored your self- 
composure. How, in times of the war, when your mother's and 
father's hearts were broken with fearful anticipations, did the good 
news from the battle-field, as the mail scattered the tidings, 
cheer again to hope and confidence those who were so anxious 
about the issue of the struggle ? Ah ! have you ever been the 
minister of ill tidings ? Have you ever been compelled to break 
sad news to some one not expecting the revelation % There 
sat in my study, one day, a poor girl who had committed a child 
for whom she could not care, to the tender compassion of the 
good people about me. During her absence, the little one, a babe 
of weeks, sickened and died. We knew not where the mother was, 
we could not send a message to her, or summon her to the fune- 
ral. At last she appeared, she sat before me, her whole face full 
of expectation and delight ; she soon hoped to fold the little one 
she loved in her arms, and I had to tell her the story of its death 
and burial. Never have I seen such anguish on this earth as 
that hour. The bearer of ill tidings needs to be sustained and 
taught by the Spirit of God, as no other messenger on the earth. 
How shall I tell, to-morrow, that young man that the days he 
has to live on earth are numbered ? How shall I sit by his bed-side, 
and point him, hoping in the deception of disease for strength 
and vigor again, to his resting-place ? God help you when duty 
compels you on such an errand as this. But oh, when the heart 



GOOD NEWS FROM A FAR COUNTRY. 155 

is full of some good thing, when the mouth can overflow with 
the most exaggerated description of blessings that are about to 
be revealed, when from your own knowledge you can tell the 
possessions that are just within the grasp of some one, how fleet- 
footed are you ? How earnest your eloquence to make the fact 
appear, and impress it upon the mind of the one to whom you 
speak ! Even so, saith the wise man, the good news that God 
sends to man come as cold waters to thirsty souls. 

Now let us sit down to-night by the Bethlehem manger. 
No, let us gather around Samaria's well. No, let us stand before 
the open sepulchre, from which the Lord has risen. The cross, 
the wood of the cross, marks the whole way from Bethlehem 
to Golgotha. He who has started with the babe must follow 
Him through every experience of His life, until he beholds Him 
crucified for his sin and accepted in his stead. Let us sit down by 
these fountains, these springs, these wells of water in Jesus' life, 
and hear the story of this great Saviour, who has come traveling 
in the greatness of His strength from the far country. 

I. First of all, let me speak to you about the Far Countries 
from which Jesus brings good tidings. A soldier, a scholar, a 
discoverer, many years since, parted from his home and all that 
was loving and attractive, impelled by the thirst of knowledge. 
He was lost in his search, and the frozen regions of the north 
kept the solemn secret of his life and death. His faithful lady 
commissioned embassy upon embassy to find him, if alive, or to 
discover some mark of his death. He penetrated into the far 
country of the frozen regions, and only lately the tidings came of 
his history. Oar own government fitted out the Polaris for 
similar investigation. The story of her loss and of the restora- 
tion of her crew is known to us all. The memory of Dr. Livings- 
tone we associate with a far country, an unknown region to us, 
aud private enterprise sent forth searchers after him. There 
came to this city, not many years since, the crowned Prince of 
Russia, and New York put on its best appearance to welcome 
him. Its citizens forgot their ordinary occupations in the pur- 
pose and effort to entertain him. All Britain was in an up- 
roar of delight because the Shah of the Persias lately found 
a resting-place among its palaces and quiet homes. Far coun- 
tries are represented by these different persons, who have thus 
stood out before the community in their different missions. But, 
my dear friends, distance is not always measured by miles. Two 
may dwell in the same house, and yet be divided by an infinite 
removal. Father and mother may sit at either end of the table, 
but between them an impassable gulf of estrangement may be 
fixed, and the bitter word and the sullen look responding to one 
another, tell of a division which can only be bridged by Divine 



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grace and power, if the twain are to be made one. Two men 
may be in a co-partnership in the city, daily occupied in similar 
transactions for the same end, and yet enmity, jealously, greed 
may withhold them from each other's confidence, and make them 
at last, when the developed passion has had full sway, implacable 
enemies of one another. But oh, when the news of reconcilia- 
tion comes from one to the other, when the old confidence is re- 
stored, when across the distance the word peace, peace, is sound- 
ed, and the gracious plan of restoration is accomplished, then 
there is no more sea. The far countries are brought near 
neighbors, and they who have dwelt in these hostile regions sit 
down together in comfort and quietness and confidence. And so 
it is with our God. He may be close by you ; He is everywhere. 
A little child was asked how many Gods are there ? and the 
answer was, " One only." " Why ? " " Because God fills every- 
thing, and there can only be one God." Omnipresence is the 
very perfection of God ; and yet, while you sit here, my brother, 
you may be conscious of infinite distance between you and the 
heart of God. He is in a far country to you ; not a Father upon 
whose bosom you can repose your head, not the Saviour into 
whose ear you can breathe out your secret, not the Friend upon 
whose arm yon can lean in all the struggles and cares of this world. 
But through the Lord Jesus Christ, we who were afar off are 
made nigh, for He brings us good news from — 

1. The Far Country of the Everlasting Covenant. The 
gospel, like all great rivers, rises above the plain, above the hills, 
above the high mountain top, in the very peak, the highest places, 
yea, above the earth, in the places not made with hands. O, the 
mountains of faithfulness ! O, the plains of peace ! O, the deep 
gorges of the Divine decrees ! O, the sun-light of reconciliation ! 
O, the rivers, full of water, in the land that is so far off from the 
wilful sinner ! There the eternal God has His throne. There are 
the palaces of the Great King. Here were the councils of 
eternity held. Here was the condescension of the Son of God 
designed and decreed. Here did the eternal and co-equal persons 
of the Holy Trinity enter into solemn vows to each other to save 
man. O, how can the finite impure soul look towards this land 
of the glory of God ! But, behold ! here is One who hath come 
from that far country, who hath brought good news, who tells of 
a compact in all things well-ordered and made sure, who declares 
that the Father in that land that is very far off is reconciled to 
you, who assures of His own great work of propitiation, by 
which the law of the Lord God is honored in our stead, who 
engages the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, sustaining us, 
sanctifying us, helping us, in all the experiences of this life. As 
we listen to His word, contained in this holy Book, how the eye 



GOOD NEWS FROM A. FAR COUNTRY. 157 

of faith glistens ! how the smile of reconciliation comes upou 
the very face of the reader ! Time, eternity, space, they are all 
nothing now. God is brought near from the land of the everlast- 
ing covenant. Yea, so graphic are the words of Christ about 
that country, that they are verily photographed — painted with the 
sun-light of the celestial city. They stand out in relief that men 
may make no mistake whence comes this traveler, or whither goes 
the hearer. Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the fountain ! 
drink ye of the good news from the far country of the covenant. 
2. But again, this Great Traveller has come from the Far 
Country of the Expiation Accomplished. Our Lord Jesus Christ 
died in Palestine, and yet, I suppose, hardly one of us ever 
saw the Holy Land. Travellers that have journeyed through it 
have been terribly disappointed. Their fancy has pictured a 
very wide extent of country, and they have found that the 
whole of the land could be easily compared with one of our 
smallest States. But our Holy Land is more than miles, is more 
than the ruins that remain, or sacred scenes about which we 
read. Bethlehem ! What is it to you % It is the birthplace of 
the Incarnate God, and Christmas takes you to the manger. 
The manger has long since passed away, and even the point in 
Bethlehem cannot be determined. Golgotha ! What is it to 
you % It is the cross of a Saviour suffering in our stead, lifted 
up to draw all men unto Him. Jerusalem ! What is it to us % 
.Not the city with the mosque, neither the city with the temple, 
but the city in which Jesus spoke living words, and from which 
He sent forth His glorious gospel of salvation. But these are 
farther away from earthly minds and sinful souls than even the 
words themselves and the places they represent are from our 
physical journeying. Dear brethren, what do you know about 
the Bethlehem incarnation of God until you have begun to know 
Christ as your own God and Saviour. The crucifixion — it is no 
more than a great tragedy, until from the far country of the 
expiation accomplished there comes a message of personal cheer 
and pardon to you. This it is that brings gladness to the soul, 
whensoever it is realized and enjoyed. We come to Golgotha, 
and we sit down before the cross, as did the centurion, just as 
really. Our Lord is dying ; our Lord is dead ; they are taking 
down the body ; they are to bury it in Joseph's tomb ! The Lord 
has risen ! The Lord is ascending ! Angels convoy Him ; clouds 
enclose Him; the Father receives Him; the everlasting doors 
are open for His welcome ! This good news comes to us from 
the far country of a reconciliation accomplished and an expia- 
tion once for all offered. There is a fountain opened for sin and 
uncleanness. Come ye to that fountain — ye who loathe your 
sin and in guilt are overwhelmed. 



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3. But, thirdly, the great Traveler brings us go^A news 
from the Far Country of Doom. Good news from hell ! Can 
it be possible % Surely nothing but groans and sighs and gnash- 
ing of teeth, have we ever associated with the place of the lost ? 
Robert Hall, in one of those masterly passages of his eloquence, 
describes the funeral of a condemned sinner who had passed the 
period of possible hope. He veils the light of the sun ; he turns 
the moon to blackness ; he shrouds the ocean and the land with 
a pall, as a testimony to the solemnity of the event ; and he de- 
clares, that if all nature had a voice, from the deep tone of the 
thunder to the quietest and most musical note on earth, the 
combined utterance of these many voices could not express the 
awful condemnation of the soul that has entered the place of the 
lost. Blessed be God ! Heaven is above us, and we can look up 
to it. Hell is removed from us, else should our lives have been 
fearful from the sounds, and perplexed and despairing from the 
sight of that awful condemnation. But He who has thus come 
to us as a great traveler, has been in the place of the lost. He 
has broken the gates of brass ; He has overthrown the horrid 
throne of him that is the king thereof ; He has scattered its shades 
of darkness ; He has overcome its power ; He has carried away 
its fetters ; He has quenched its fire. There is no condemnation 
to them who are in Christ Jesus. There is no hell to that man 
of you who clings to this great Saviour, traveling in the great- 
ness of His strength. This is not to teach extinction. Does this 
mind of ours develop for seventy years in its acute analysis of the 
things of earth, the things of God, and then go out in blankness ? 
Does this soul of man proceed from the lowest to the most spirit- 
ual powers and passions, and then is it in the hour of death 
annihilated ? Nay, that w T ould be the strangest miracle of time. 
I preach no such doctrine as that, but I tell thee, my brother, 
that if thou dost rest solely on the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
in the endurance of the condemnation of thy sin, in the obedience 
He rendered, and the punishment He suffered in thy stead, then 
is the power of hell and the place of hell for thee sealed for 
ever. No devil, nor all devils combined, can wrest from the hand 
of God that soul that is closed in His palm by the everlasting 
fingers. Such is the good news which has come to us from the 
place of doom. 

4. But, lastly, we have the Far Country of an Entered 
Heaven. One of our Lord's parables represents Him as the son of 
a king going into a far country to receive a kingdom, and 
returning again. He did most majestically enter the gates of 
life. Do you doubt it ? He has risen, He has gone into the 
place not made with hands. But He has come again by His 
Spirit, in His Word, to souls. Jesus hath revealed Himself as He 



GOOD NEWS FROM A FAR COUNTRY. 159 

dotli not to the world. We read in the 45th chapter of the Book 
of Genesis, that when Jacob, in his far-off home, heard that 
Joseph was alive in Egypt, his spirit sank within him, for he 
thought they lied to him, but when he saw the chariots and 
wagons which Joseph had sent down from Pharaoh's land to bring 
him and his family and all his possessions up to the place in which 
lie lived, it is written, the heart of Jacob, his father, revived. 
When you read this Word, which is a chariot with a hundred 
wheels, wheel within wheel, a cohort of angels, with extended 
pinions, to carry the people of God safely through the distance, a 
gracious guide to him who pursues with perseverance the heaven- 
ward way, ever beckoning him on, and encouraging him with new 
promises in dispensations of grace by the way, then are you 
assured Joseph is alive, he is at the throne. These are the things 
that he has sent to convince us of the fact. Good news from an 
entered heaven does this great Traveler bring us, assuring us of 
the joys that are yet in store for us. Nay, more than that, do 
you remember the map of Palestine ? The river Jordan runs 
from north to south, bisecting the land. Part of Canaan is on one 
side of the river, the other half on the nether side. Even so, our 
heaven is on both sides Jordan. The river of death runs between 
the two parts of our experience. The high places are on the far 
side of the flood. But what ' Christian man is there, who has 
rested in the Lord Jesus Christ as his complete, perfect, present 
Saviour, who is not conscious of joys and privileges which are 
more than earth \ They are heaven itself, and his possession 
hereafter shall differ only in degree, not in kind. Dear brother, 
if you have seen the Lord Jesus Christ in His Word, and heard 
Him say "Thy sins be forgiven thee,'' then thou hast had thy 
first realization of heaven. When, in the toil of some day of 
trial, His Spirit has whispered to thee " My grace is sufficient for 
thee," oh, then you have learned somewhat of the unwearied ser- 
vice of saints at rest. When you have studied the footsteps of 
your Lord, and prayed for grace to put your feet of obedience in 
the marks of His consecration, then you have learned somewhat 
about " following the Lamb whithersoever He goeth," which is 
to be your privilege and portion forever. The masterly eloquence 
of the Son of God makes us rejoice over the things in the far 
country, even whilst we are journeying toward them. 

II. From these four far countries has our Saviour, Christ, 
brought good news. Let me very briefly tell you about the com- 
fort FROM AFAR. 

How it slakes the thirst of fear ! There is a hearer, who, 
when he thinks alone of his sin, and compares his life and char- 
acter with the law of God, is speechless. Even in the lower courts 
of earth, the tongue thickens and the mouth is parched with 



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thirst, as the conscious criminal stands before the judge that shall 
consign him instantly to his doom ! How much rather when the 
soul is summoned by anticipation to the bar of God ! Now comes 
the good news to that thirsty and fearful one : thy sins are for- 
given ; thy punishment has been endured; not one drop of pun- 
ishment is there in the whole ocean of this world's experiences. 
O soul, there is pardon for thee ! There is justification, there is 
acceptance. There is a great Advocate praying for thee this 
moment, if thou wilt believe and trust the message that this 
great Traveler brings. One of our city missionaries, the other 
day, met a poor, miserable, fallen girl, who not only was ashamed, 
but convinced of her sin. (Where are the fallen men in the city 
of New York? We talk of fallen women. God have mercy 
upon the fallen men!) The missionary expostulated with her. 
He found out where her father lived, and proposed to inform him 
about her. " No, no ! " she said, " I would not have him know 
for the world." " Why not, my poor girl ? " " Oh, I cannot let 
him know where I am. I ran away from home. He never has 
heard of me since. I would not tell him the disgrace that has 
been brought to his name." "Nay, but if your father would 
welcome your return ? " " No, it cannot be. My sin is too great. 
It cannot be." But at last she was persuaded, and the missionary 
wrote a message to her father. In the course of a few days 
there came to his hand a letter, with " Immediate " written 
across the corner. He opened it, and what there was in it I can- 
not tell you in full, but this was its substance: "Tell her to come 
home ! I have prayed for her every morning and every night 
since she went away. Tell her, come home ! Her father for- 
gives her, and longs to have her by his side." "If ye, then, 
being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how 
much more will your Heavenly Father! " Dear brother, if thou 
art perplexed with fears to-night, come home, says this great 
Saviour ; thou art forgiven ; thou needest fear no longer. 

But again, how this good news satisfies the thirst of faith. 
Now faith is the tongue of the soul, by which it tastes the graci- 
ousness of a God of mercy. It may be a feverish tongue some- 
times, but still a tongue. It can tell the sweetness and the preci- 
ousness of the tidings. And when a man believes this message, 
what shall I tell him then ? Tell him the message over again. I 
have no sympathy with that class of men who think there is one 
sort of instruction for the sinner and another for saints. It is not 
so in my experience. That one of you who in my times of tempta- 
tion and trial will stand by my side, and put his hand upon my 
knee, and tell me of the forgiving love of God, my Saviour, will 
do more for me than if he could instruct me in all the dogmatic 
system to which I subscribe. It will do well enough to have 



GOOD NEWS FROM A FAR COUNTRY. 1G1 

these great truths to build up character, strength and life ; but 
that which faith wants immediately is the good news. And it 
wants it all the time. One draught of the water is not enough. 
We hunger, we thirst after the righteousness of our great Saviour, 
who suffered in our stead. We would not have our thirst 
quenched. What different souls come to it ! At the little place 
where I make my country home, close by the railroad station, 
there is a well. The water is celebrated through the whole 
valley. There is an old bucket and a battered cup by the well- 
side. The farm-hands at noon-time and evening come to the well 
and drink for their satisfaction. The lord of the manor in the 
neighborhood does not slight its refreshment. When he is thirsty 
he takes the cup like the rest. And when a train comes in, and 
is arrested for a few moments, from the locomotive, from the 
baggage car, from all the carriages behind, there come crowds of 
men, who gather about that curb and satisfy their thirst. The 
old country well ! it is one of the happiest things in recollection, 
as our minds look back to our summer home. Just so is this 
great well of salvation. It will not do to take one cup full, and 
and then say good-bye to the provision. We need it every day, 
and we all need it. The thirst of faith is never quenched. Like 
the fire of hell, it is unquenchable this side eternity, and the more 
one drinks the more he wants of the good news that the Lord, 
traveling in the greatness of his strength, brings. 

But shall I say, lastly, how this good news sustains the thirst 
of hope. Hope, like the eagle, soars towards heaven. On the 
wings of hope the sinner saved by grace goes home. He thirsts 
for all the joys that are with the Lord. He longs for the pure 
water, clear as crystal, that proceeds out of the throne of God 
and the Lamb. When you have begun, my dear friend, you will 
never cease to hope. If you have the silver, you will want the 
gold ; if you have the gold, you will want the crystal ; if you 
have the crystal, you will still long for the precious gem. There 
is no need in the world like the thirst of hope. The old mariners 
used to think that the pillars of Hercules were the end of the 
world, and when they were reached, all beyond was a waste of 
waters. Now when they sail beyond the pillars of Hercules, 
they are only beginning their voyage to other and distant lands. 
Just so is it in Christian life. Some young Christians determine 
a mark and say : when we get there we will be satisfied. Lo, 
when they have passed that attainment, immensity, infinity of 
promise is before them, and the Christian sets full sail and speeds 
out on the ocean of Divine love and grace we have not yet 
attained! The more we have, the more we shall want. 

So do the good news from the far country of the everlasting 
covenant, of the expiation accomplished, of the land of doom, 



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of the entered heaven, slake the thirst of fear, satisfy the thirst 
of faith, sustain the thirst of hope. 

I heard the voice of Jesus say, 

" Behold I freely give 
The living water ; thirsty one 

Stoop down, and drink, and live." 
I came to Jesus, and 1 drank 

Of that lite-giving stream, 
My thirst was quenched, my soul revived, 

And now I live in Him. 

Jesns, crucified, cried, " I thirst." The soldier took the 
sponge and dipped it in vinegar and put it on a reed, and tried to 
wet the poor parched lips and relieve the thirst of death. His 
body did not thirst. His soul was full of longings in that hour. 
The peculiar drink and refreshment of God, our Saviour, is the 
salvation of souls. Pie longed in dying for the myriads that 
should believe on Him through the story of His death. Now 
that He hath ascended to heaven, it is said that He still yearns 
over us ; He waits " to see of the travail of His soul and be satis 
tied." Dear brother, send a message to-night to the far country, 
by that errand-bearer, prayer. Let prayer take thy confession to 
the Father's throne — bear thy acknowledgement of guilt and 
submission. Let him bring back to thy faith the assurance of 
thy forgiveness. Such good news shall quench the thirst of 
Christ. Oh ! if some soul here will thus pray this night, " there 
shall be joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner 
that repenteth." The bells of heaven will ring out with rejoicing. 
The hosts of the redeemed shall echo the salutation : One pardoned 
sinner more ! God grant you that great consciousness before 
you sleep ! Amen. 



CHAPTER XX. 



WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO? 



SERMON BY THE REV. J. SPENCER KENNARD, OF THE THIRTY-THIRD STREET 
BAPTIST CHURCH, NEW YORK CITY, ON TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 1876. 



" What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ ?" — Matt, xxvii., 22. 

Pilate, the governor, is seated in the judgment hall. A man, 
worn with grief, yet majestic in his meek innocence, stands before 
him. A mysterious man to most, a just man, and a prophet in 
the eyes of devout Jews ; and by a few disciples claimed to be 
" the Messiah that should come." He has been undergoing trial for 
His life. The jealousy and hate of Jewish accusers has exhausted 
its ingenuity, and His judge has acquitted Him. Nevertheless, 
the mob, stirred up by the priests and Pharisees, demand His 
death. His judge wickedly vacillates. He wants the favor of the 
people, yet his convictions of conscience prompt him to set the 
prisoner free. In his perplexity he remembers the custom of re- 
leasing a prisoner at the feast, at the governor's option. He thinks 
of Barabbas, a notorious robber and cut-throat; and he ingenious- 
ly puts him in comparison with Jesus, and gives the people their 
choice. Surely they will not dare to let loose that wretch whom 
the whole neighborhood regarded with horror? "Barabbas or 
Jesus ? " And they cried out " Give us Barabbas ! " Ah, he 
had not learned that such is the enmity of the human heart to 
God, that men will run any risks, and let loose on themselves any 
horrors rather than accept a Saviour ! Astonished and bewildered 
at the failure of his hopes, and his fears of the vengeance of the 



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people for the time overcoming his fears of God's judgment, he 
says to them, " What shall I do then with Jesus which is called 
Christ ? " He should not have asked that question ; he should 
have manfully executed his purpose to deliver Jesus out of their 
hands. But his want of firm and manly principle made him 
vacillate, and each step of departure from the line of absolute 
justice became easier. He saw that he had yielded too much to 
the violence of the rabble, and was in their power. They saw 
their advantage, and seized it ; and now boldly, in the face of the 
verdict, cried out "Crucify Him! Away with Him!" In vain 
did he attempt to expostulate ; the voice of the judge was drowned. 
They gained their fatal victory. And being delivered up to their 
violent hands, He is led away to the Hill of Blood. 

Friends, the scene is a typical one. In every generation, and 
in every congregation since then, the same wonderful, benignant, 
suffering Christ stands His trial and awaits the verdict. He, who 
holds our destinies in His hands, nevertheless presents Himself 
before the judgment bar of our consciences, our hearts, our will ; 
and the mightiest question that ever a soul was called to answer, is : 
" What shall I do with Jesus which is called the Christ ?" And 

I. — We must do something with Him. 

Many would fain have no responsibility in the matter ; they 
do not wish to decide any question with reference to Christ. 
They desire to regard His person, work and claims, as something 
which they were at liberty to consider or not, according to their 
own pleasure. It is a delicate, difficult business, which they 
would dismiss, at least, to some remotely future day. Gladly 
would Pilate have rid himself of the whole matter of the trial of 
Jesus, as an embarrassing and unpleasant matter, to decide which 
he felt reluctant ; because, whichever way he decided, it would 
involve difficulty to himself. But as the case was brought before 
him, there was no escape. He had something to do with Jesus 
from his official position. He must decide for or against Him. 

And it is equally true that we cannot shirk this responsibility. 
Christ has much to do with us and we with Him. It is as impos- 
sible for us to forget or ignore Him as the sun at noon-day. He 
has come into the world as a mediator between God and man ; as 
the Saviour of sinners; as a Prophet, Priest and King ; not for 
some different race, but for us, — for you and me. He, in His 
personality, in His work, and in His gospel, comes near to every 
one of us. His words are sounding in our ears ; His cross meets 
us in our path ; His hand knocks at oUr heart's door ; His whole 
life, mission and death, and present position and work in heaven 
is in our behalf. It has no other meaning. Nor is there a man, 
woman or child in all the world, to whom Christ has been revealed 
as the Saviour of sinners, but will be made, now and eternally , the 



WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO? 165 

better or the worse for that knowledge; aye, the chief clement in 
their eternal happiness or misery will be the treatment that they 
have given Him. His blood will be upon them, either as a 
fountain of cleansing or as an overwhelming curse. 

Pilate thought to escape by washing his hands, and saying, 
" See ye to it. I am innocent of the blood." But the water did 
not cleanse his soul ; the blood of . Christ was there, and will 
appear wdien he would fain hold out his hands, and say, " These 
hands are clean." 

It being clear that you Lave much to do w 7 ith Christ, it is also 
clear that you have to do with Him now. He stands before you, the 
trial is ended, all the evidence is in; what judgment are you about 
to pronounce ? Both worlds are watching you to hear your de- 
cision. What think you of Christ, and what are you going to do 
with Christ ? Is He or is He not the Saviour of men, of men 
like you ? Is He worthy of your trust and affection, and, if so, 
what are you going to do with Him \ Suffer yourself, oh friend, 
to enter seriously into the decision of this momentous question, 
and do it at once. It is a question of life and death with you, 
and nobody else can settle it for you. Let me make the matter so 
clear that you cannot fail to grasp the issue. 

II. Look at each of the doors through which Christ pre- 
sents Himself to you for a verdict. First He stands at the 
gateway of your intelligence in His written gospel. Here is the 
history of His life, the mirror of His character, the record of His 
teachings and His works of heavenly mercy ; here the pathetic 
story of His sufferings and death ; here the explanation of His 
mediation and the testimony of many eye witnesses to His 
glorious mission. What will you do with this Book which claims 
your belief ? Will you treat it as a fable, or, admitting its truth, 
deny your need of it, or will you give it your honest study to 
find Christ in it ? Will you allow your mind to dwell on the 
picture of His suffering love till your whole heart expands to re- 
ceive Him? 

Again, He comes to you by His Spirit, enlightening, quick- 
ening your sensibilities, wooing you with tender solicitation, 
teaching you your need of the cleansing blood and the finished 
righteousness. With Divine yearnings that Spirit has lingered 
long at your door, but He will not always strive ; He is beginning 
to be grieved by your cold delay, or timid vacillation. Say, my 
hearer, what will you do with the gentle Spirit of Christ ? Slight 
Him still ? Shut your eyes to the picture of the Crucified One 
which in vivid colors He portrays ? 

Again, Christ stands before you in the completeness of the 
work of redemption. Here is His perfect obedience in your behalf, 
which He offers as a substitute for yours', which has been a painful 



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failure. Look at the rags of jour self-righteousness — they cannot 
cover you. Your naked sinfulness is seen, and you are not fit to 
appear at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Then look at 
Christ's righteousness, this spotless, royal garment which is 
offered you ; better than princely purple to clothe, protect and 
adorn you. In it you will be welcome anywhere in God's heaven; 
aye, at the very throne itself. What will you do with it ? 

Here is the forgiveness of sins written by the hand and sealed 
by the Blood of the cross. He offers to blot out as a thick cloud 
your transgressions. It is a full, free and eternal pardon. Every 
sin is included in it, and all He asks is that you shall repent and 
forsake them henceforth. Now look into your heart — look back 
on your life. Can you number or estimate your sins ? Look at 
a holy God, whose nature and word require Him to punish 
except ye come to Christ, and say, what will you do with this way, 
this only way of escape from your sins and their fearful penalty ? 
What will you do with a pardoning Jesus ? 

He comes to you in the fullness of reconciliation. He has 
power with the Father. He offers by His death and intercession 
to make a perfect reconciliation. God will, for His sake, look 
upon you once more with complacent favor. He will accept and 
adopt you as His child. Now look upon yourself, banished from 
communion with God ; a strange alienation, bitterness and loneli- 
ness of spirit and the prospect of being forever shut out of 
heaven. Only through Christ is He willing to meet you and ex- 
tend to you His open arms of welcome. Christ, the Elder 
Brother, offers you His hand to lead you to those open arms. 
What will you do with His mediation ? Will you give Him your 
hand and commit yourself to His gracious offers of reconcilia- 
tion ? 

He comes in the majesty of His claims on you. He claims, 
that having done and suffered so much to redeem you, He has a 
right to your confidence and gratitude; having redeemed your 
body and soul, and gained for you eternal life, that you should 
devote soul and body to His service. These are His claims. These 
He presents with His pierced hands and repeats with His loving 
lips. What will you do with these claims ? Are you ready to deny 
their validity ; to disclaim all obligations, and after all that He has 
clone, to declare your intention to live for yourself and give your 
heart to the world ? What He asks is simply your heart. This 
you can give Him. Finally, He offers Himself in the fullness of 
the blessings of the gospel, an exhaustive fountain of love and 
gladness, the satisfaction of all the yearnings of your nature, 
and the crown of honor to you before men and angels. And the 
question then must be once more pressed upon you, " What mil 
you do with Jesus ? " 



WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO ? 167 

III. You may ask, my hearers, what others are doing ; for 
this is the question that seems to decide many of our actions. Let 
me tell you then what men are doing with Jesus. And rest assur- 
ed lie receives a different treatment from different classes of men. 
The majority of the people still say: "Away with Him !" They 
deny His claims, His divinity, the power of His sacrifice. They 
steel their hearts against His appeals, shut the door upon Him, 
and proudly say "Who is this Lord and what is Lie to us?" 
They will wear the cross as an ornament upon the breast, but 
spurn it as a salvation from their hearts. 

Then there is another class who freely admit that what the scrip- 
tures say of Christ may be true ; they deny nothing. They even 
acknowledge the importance of salvation through Him, and 
approve of those who accept Him, but for themselves, with 
singular inconsistency, they say "I pray Thee have me excused." 
They feel no binding obligation to attend to His claims — He 
seems to them as a " root out of dry ground," and having a 
charitable desire that every one who needs may avail themselves 
of His gracious offers, they feel no such need, and have no such 
desire. Are you one of these ? 

There are others who treat Christ as though He could be 
trifled with — some most indulgent being who was to be found at 
any time when they might please to seek Him. The freeness 
and graciousness of Christ are so often repeated to them that 
they conclude no evil can result from treating Him just as the 
whim of the moment inclines them. With no serious desire to 
please Him, with no love or reverence for His character, with no 
sense of their need of Him as a Saviour, yet familiar with His 
name and sacrifice as a household word, they conclude they may 
dismiss His claims for the present, and at some future day of 
age, or trouble or death, call in His aid to bridge for them the 
gulf that separates them from heaven. But thank God ! there 
are many in these days of gracious visitation who are eagerly 
receiving Christ. Never in the history of the church were there 
so many giving heed to His claims, searching his Word, admiring 
His loveliness, embracing His cross, and joining themselves to His 
people. 

One of these beautifully expresses himself in these words : " I 
am blind and I take Jesus for my guide ; I am naked, and I 
take His righteousness for my raiment ; I have poverty, and He 
has riches of grace ; I have weakness, and He has omnipotent 
strength ; I have ignorance, and He has wisdom ; I have 
sin, and He has cleansing blood and pardoning grace ; I am 
full of wants, and He of rich supplies ; does Satan arraign me, 
He is my advocate ; am I forsaken, He stands by me ; must I 
die, He is my resurrection. Well then, I will cling to Thee and 



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part witli all the world rather than lose Thee, my Saviour. And 
God be thanked, I know Thou art not willing to do without me. 
Here is my poor heart, an empty vessel, till it with Thy love, 
make it Thine abode, and may I ever steadfastly feel Jesus needs 
me and I Him, and so we suit each other." 

Again, if you should ask what you should do with Christ, en- 
quire of those who know Him best. Ask the angels who have 
always beheld His face, "What would you do with Jesus, ye 
happy seraphs V Hark how they answer, as they fill the Judean 
night with their songs over His birth ; see how they answer as 
they hover on throbbing wings around His earthly ministry, 
comforting Him in the wilderness of temptation and the garden 
of agony, rejoicing at His resurrection and escorting Him with 
shouts of triumph back to their blest abode. Hear them as these 
topmost beings of creation prostrate themselves in adoring won- 
der and forever more shout "Hallelujah to the Lamb that was 
slain." And yet He was not slain for them, but for you. Or, if 
you would go still higher, ask the Eternal Father Himself, in 
whose bosom He dwelt from eternity, " What, oh God, wouldst 
Thou do with Jesus ?" and hear His answer, as He speaks from 
heaven at the baptism and the transfiguration, " This is My be- 
loved Son in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye Him." See it in 
the fact that because He humbled Himself to death for you, 
" He hath highly exalted Him and given Him a name above every 
name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every 
tongue confess." Ask both worlds what they would do with Him. 
The heavenly world, from every voice of saint and seraph, shout : 
" Crown Him Lord of all," and the world of lost souls responds, 
" It is our madness that we rejected Him, and our despair that 
we cannot take refuge in His wounds." 

But is it not amazing that men should stay to debate this 
question, considering their state ? Awakened from dreams to 
find himself in a burning room, a man sees the window thrown 
up and a friendly hand and a ladder waiting him to escape. Does 
he stand questioning what he shall do with it ? A man adrift in 
the dark waves at night, sinking, touches with his hands a floating 
spar from the wreck ; does he stop to ask, " What shall I do with 
it?" A man bitten by a venomous reptile, his limbs swelling, 
horrors of death staring him in the face, has an andidote placed 
in his hand; does he pause to enquire " What shall I do with it ? " 
But, finally, each of us must bear the responsibility of this 
decision for himself. Though all other beings in the world should 
choose Christ as a Saviour, it would not help you ; and though all 
others should reject Him, it would not hinder your salvation, if 
you shall take Him to your heart. " If thou be wise, thou 
shalt be wise for thyself ; but if thou scornest, thou alone shalt 



WHAT AKE YOU GOING TO DO? 169 

bear it." Men do not receive or reject Christ in masses; 
but each in the secrecy and silence of his own thoughts ponders 
the momentous question, "What shall I do with Jesus ?" As a 
solitary being you entered the world ; as a solitary one you will 
depart from it; and as a solitary one you will be judged at last. 
Oh, then, forget every one to-night but your own soul and this 
waiting Saviour. Look at your own needs, your own sins, your 
own perils, and work out your own salvation with fear and 
trembling. Say to yourself, with all earnestness, " Oh, my soul, 
hast thou any wants that Christ can alone supply ? " Yes ; there 
is an aching void, a hungering for love, a weary longing for rest, 
a need of peace through purity ; and here stands Christ, ready to 
fill those wants with all the fulness of the blessing of the gospel. 
" Oh, my soul, hast thou no sins of thine own ? Ah, yes ! sins 
heaped on sins ; more than I can number." And here stands 
Christ, the sin-bearer ; God's bleeding Lamb. He was made sin 
for thee, that thou mightest be made the righteousness of God 
through. Him. "Thou, oh, my soul, art at this moment under 
condemnation; the broken law waits for a little while ere the 
sword of justice falls; thou hast no shelter from the wrath to 
come. But for Christ you would have long ago been consumed, as 
stubbie before the flame. Nothing but His bleeding wounds can 
quench the flaming sword. Oh, my soul, wilt thou take refuge in 
those wounds ? Oh, my soul, thy life has been wasted, and thy 
destiny is dark. But here, right at thy door waits a glorious 
Redeemer, who can and will make all things new and fair 
in life to thee, and gild eternity with hopes of immortal bliss. 

Oh, lovely attitude ! He stands 

With melting heart and loaded hands. 
Oh, matchless kindness ! and He shows 

This matchless kindness to His foes! 

My soul ! receive Him ! and receive Him now. For see, He 
has waited long, is waiting still, you treat no other friend so ill. 

Admit Him ! ere His anger burn, 
His feet departed ne'er return. 
Admit Him ! or the hour's at hand 
You'll at His door rejected stand ! 

Yes, dying man, this is the last and most impressive thought 
with which I would have you go away : What would I have Jesus 
do v-ith me in that day when He comes to judge the world ? An- 
ticipate that stupendous hour and scene. This place of prayer 
shall be changed for the judgment seat ; instead of this congre- 
gation, an assembled world; instead of this hour of grace and in- 
vitation, the awful hour of doom ; He who now stands before 
your heart, meekly waiting your decision, He with the scars of 
Calvary and the outstretched hands of pleading that you would 



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deal with Him kindly, will then be seated on the throne clothed 
in dazzling splendor, the hosts of heaven's angels surrounding 
Him as spectators of the trial, and you, the arrainged one, standing 
before His bar tremblingly pondering the question " What will 
Christ do with me ? " Sinner, by all your hope of His mercy then, 
by all your fear of " the wrath of the Lamb" then, I beseech you 
receive and adore Christ now. For there is a step between thee 
and that great day, and the word of Christ has gone forth : "Who- 
soever shall confess Me before men, him will I confess also before 
My Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny Me 
before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in 
heaven." 



CHAPTER XXI. 



CHRIST OUR ROCK, REFUGE AND REFRESHMENT. 



SERMON BY THE REV. WILLIAM ORMISTON, D.D., OF THE DUTCH REFORMED 
(COLLEGIATE) CHURCH, NEW YORK, ON TUESDAY, SEPT. 12, 1876. 



" And a man shall be as an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the 
tempest ; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a 
weary J and." — Isaiah xxxii., 2. 

In reading this passage, one is disposed to put the question 
which was asked by the eunuch of Philip as they rode together 
in the chariot : " Speaketh the prophet this of himself, or of 
some other man, and if of any other, then of whom 1 " Of none 
other than He, the Man of Nazareth, who, while our brother, 
was the brightness of His Father's glory, and the express image 
of His person. 

The sacred writers, in order that they may give to us, in our 
feebleness, something like an adequate conception of the many- 
sided Emmanuel, make use of every variety of figure or metaphor 
that may aid in exhibiting to us His person and His work. For 
this purpose, natural objects, whether they be grand and sublime 
or small and insignificant, are employed to display His varied 
excellencies. Every floweret that blooms beneath our feet, or 
star that twinkles over our heaas is eloquent of Him. He is the 
Rose of Sharon, and the apple tree among the trees of the wood. 
He is the bright and morning star, and the Sun of Righteousness. 
The different relations, too, that we sustain to each other, the most 
sacred and tender, are all consecrated, because they are all used to 
remind us of His relations to us. He is our Prophet, Priest, 
King, Husband, Father, Lover, Friend. Even the common 
appetites of our nature are constantly employed to remind us of 



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our need of Him. If we hunger, is He not the Bread of Life ? 
If we thirst, is He not the Living Water ? 

The imagery of the passage from which I have selected my 
text, gives us a view of the reign of a benignant and gracious 
sovereign, characterized by peace, plenty and prosperity, such as 
this world has never seen and never will see, until He comes whose 
right it is to reign, and to whom the glory shall be given. Some 
have supposed they should find its fulfilment in the reign of 
Hezekiah or some good earthly monarch, but he who carefully 
studies the passage will readily perceive that the language is 
applicable in its full significance solely to Him who is King in 
Zion. 

By the beautiful figurative language of the text, there is sug- 
gested to the imagination, a vast waste, desolate, and dreary 
desert, across which there wends a lonely traveler plodding 
wearily on his homeward way, and, as thoughts of his distant 
home and loved ones there fill his heart, he suddenly hears a 
strange, dreaded sound, which betokens the coming tempest ; he 
hears the roar of the wind and sees in the distance great clouds 
of billowy dust rapidly approaching him, and threatening to 
become at once his winding-sheet and tomb. He sees, he shud- 
ders, he despairs, and, as he stands awaiting his doom, he beholds 
in the distance a rock, elevating its beneficent head above the 
howling tempest. The sight nerves him to further effort, and on 
he hastens until he reaches its friendly shelter, and safe under its 
protection, he listens to the raging tempest as it rushes wildly 
past, and when the danger is over, rejoicing in his safety, he 
blesses God for his deliverance, and gladly hastens on his way. 

Within the compass of the text there is a slight change in 
the metaphor. We have the same wide desert wilderness, and 
the same lonely traveler, but the storm is heard no more. There 
is a calm, dead, terrible, and overpowering. The brazen heavens 
above him shed fiercely down intolerable day, and the intense 
heat drinks his spirit up. Thirsty and faint, he gives up and lies 
down to die. His senses are quickened by suffering, and he hears 
or thinks he hears the ripple of a little streamlet, which, like the 
voice of God, nerves him to further effort. He drags his weary 
limbs to the same beneficent rock, and there finds a cool and 
refreshing shadow, and a spring of pure water bubbling at its 
base, at which he slakes his thirst and bathes his heated brow, 
blesses God for the double boon and presses on towards his distant 
home. 

Such is the figure. The fact is this : Every child of God has, 
in their earthly life, a varied experience of calm and storm, of 
cloud and sunshine, of trial and of triumph, but it is the privi- 
lege of every believer to know that the covert and the shade and 



CHRIST OUR ROCK, REFUGE AND REFRESHMENT. 1^3 

the spring are ever near.* From the beautiful metaphorical 
language of the text, we propose to preach unto you Jesus, who 
is the only covert from the tempest, and who alone can be as a 
river of water in a thirsty land. 

For the purpose of brevity and that we may have a clearer 
understanding of the subject, I propose to present Him to you 
to-night under these two aspects : First. — As a Rock of Refuge, 
or a place of perfect safety. Second. — As a River of Refresh- 
ment, or a source of constant supply. We say, — 

First : Christ as a Rock is a refuge from the tempest of the 
Divine indignation and wrath. That is a very solemn, profoundly 
impressive and terrible thought, the wrath of God ! The idea 
is disliked and disbelieved by many, but seripture and history, 
conscience and observation all agree in attesting the fact that 
a world lying in wickedness is a world under wrath ; and that 
the soul that sinneth must die. This awful truth is attested 
by the records of the last six thousand years. Let that mighty 
deluge that swept the world as the agent of God's displeasure ; 
let the smoking, and charred ruins of the cities of the plain; 
let the bleached bones of a whole generation scattered over the 
wilderness tell what an awful tiling is the anger of a just and 
holy God ! Let the innumerable multitudes that have died du- 
ring the past ages, and those that are passing away every day 
to the dark and lonesome grave, declare that we are consumed 
by the Divine anger. But it were better to quote a few words 
of God Himself, which in all their plainness and simplicity, are 
more overwhelmingly impressive than any description, however 
graphic, or any picture, however appaling, of the nature or the 
effects of sin and its consequent punishment. I will give you, 
first, the words of Him who spake as never man spake, whose lips 
were ever full of grace and truth, and whose heart overflowed 
with sympathy, tenderness and love. How touching and tender 
were the accents that usually fell from His lips, aud yet listen to 
these words : "He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life." 
A grand gospel, full of glorious hope and promise. Men have 
not a word to say against that, but they stop in the middle of the 
verse, for Christ adds : " He that believeth not the Son shall not 
see life, but the wrath of God " — shall come ? No, no. Many 
would fain put off the evil day, but the words are " the wrath of 
God abideth on him." My dear hearers, that is a burden too 
heavy for any man to carry or for any human soul to bear, and it 
is only because we can preach to you that it has been borne for 
you, that there is any hope for you at all. " The wrath of God 
abideth on him." Think of it ! Lying down on your pillows and 
the wrath of God upon you ! Rising from your beds, crushed 
beneath this awful weight ! Is it any wonder that your hearts are 



174: UNDER CANVAS. 

sad, your being warped, your souls- miserable ? As well may 
plants live without the light of the sun as the human soul live and 
be glad, or joyous, or hopeful, or happy under the wrath of God ! 
Hearken to what the Apostle Paul says to the Romans : " The 
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and 
unrighteousness of men." Must I pollute God's atmosphere with 
the foul breath of impiety, blasphemy, or profanity, to be an 
ungodly man ? No ; if we have spent an hour or a day without 
the consciousness of the Divine presence and providence and 
power ; if we have spent this day without reference to the Divine 
service and glory, then, whatever be our external morality and 
outward respectability, notwithstanding all of our social joys and 
domestic bliss, we are ungodly men. A godless man ! Sad is it 
for a man to be homeless, friendless or, worst of earthly bereave- 
ments, motherless, but sadder far to be godless, Christless and 
hopeless. 

Then what does unrighteousness mean ? Must a man steal or 
rob, be guilty of arson, burglary or some other nefarious crime 
to be deemed unrighteous ? Must a man's name be associat- 
ed with jobbery, trickery and chicanery ; with dishonest deal- 
ings, fraudulent practices, or usurious exactions, before lie can be 
charged with unrighteousness ? No ; every time you swerve from 
God's holy law, every time you do injury, even in thought as 
well as in deed, to the rights, feelings or interests of your neigh- 
bor, you are unrighteous. The law of God is exceedingly 
broad. Its demands reach to the very depths of the human ex- 
perience and life. Apply this law to your own conscience and 
heart, and say, if you dare or can, that you are clean every whit. 
And yet, against all ungodliness and all unrighteousness, the 
wrath of God is revealed. Again, Paui uses language of tremend- 
ous significance. He says, " But after thy hardness and impenitent 
hearts, treasurest up wrath against the day of wrath," — heaping 
up wrath in heaven at the bar of God. What an awful accumu- 
lation must that be against a poor sinful soul that, for five, 
fifteen, or it may be fifty years has trampled upon the blood of 
the everlasting covenant, done despite unto the Spirit of Grace, 
and rejected God's salvation ! Turn to the second epistle to the 
Thessalonians, at the first chapter, and you will find from the first 
to the seventh verse, awful words used. Once more the apostle 
writes to the Thessalonians : " And to you who are troubled 
rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from 
heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance 
on all them," — on whom ? The vile, the ungodly, the outcast, the 
miserable denizens of the gutter or the prison? Oh no, that is 
not what it says at all. That may be very true, but it is not the 
language of the apostle. His language is " against all them that 



CHRIST OUR ROCK, REFUGE AND REFRESHMENT. 175 

know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ." 
My dear brother and sister, I don't charge you with violating 
every command of the decalogue, or with all the vile catalogue 
of sins and crimes that disgrace and degrade our nature. Not at 
all. I only ask you, do you know God as your father ? Do you 
obey the glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ ? If so, then 
rest with us, says the apostle, but if not, then let God be true 
and every man a liar. Christ is coming to take vengeance, and 
what that vengeance means, we cannot tell, and would not if we 
could. We know something of the wondrous depth of His love 
and the infinitude of His grace w T hen He poured out His soul unto 
death for us, but the great day of Llis wrath — the wrath of the 
Lamb, will come and who then shall be able to stand ? Do not 
misunderstand the teaching of God's Word; it tells us that the 
great, the mighty, the loving God, whose heart is full of tender- 
ness and pity, long suffering, slow to anger, waiting to forgive, is 
to all out of Christ, a consuming fire. Now can we for one 
moment doubt what should be our duty if a refuge is provided to 
which we can flee and escape such terrible consequences ? Such a 
refuge, my dear hearers, is provided. The Father hath sent forth 
His Son — the God-man — to redeem the world, to reconcile us to 
Himself ! He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Nothing 
is more wonderful in the whole scheme of redemption than that 
God, who knows us all, and know T s us thoroughly, should be so 
patient, so long-suffering, so ready and willing to forgive, though 
we have rebelled so often against Him. 

Though His own well-beloved Son has been rejected and des- 
pised again and again by you, He still waits to be gracious. The 
long-suffering forbearance of God is the most marvelous manifes- 
tation of His grace. But the tempest of His anger is borne along 
on the wings of time, and it will overtake every ungodly, every 
impenitent and every unsaved soul. Oh flee ye, dear hearers, as 
prisoners of hope, to the Rock that is cleft to take you in ! " Turn 
ye, turn ye, for wmy will ye die, oh house of Israel ? " If it be asked 
how the Lord Jesus Christ is a refuge to the poor, awakened, fear- 
stricken sinner, I would suggest the illustration of my text. How 
did the rock prove a defence against the pitiless pelting storm for 
the man who stood behind it ? Simply by coming between him 
and it. The storm poured its relentless fury upon the rock, and 
the traveler was saved. So it is with the mysterious but glorious 
doctrine of substitution. The Lord laid upon Him the iniquities 
of us all. He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised 
for our iniquities ; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, 
and with His stripes we are healed. To every sinner this refuge 
is open to-night, and you are urged to flee into it. If you are 
children of God, you are safe within the shelter of this glorous 



176 UNDER CANVAS. 

refuge. If you are not the children of God, there is a fearful 
looking for of fiery indignation, and an awful apprehension of 
the future casting its dark shadow before, which quenches the 
light of life in all your souls. But " There is no condemnation 
to them that are in Christ Jesus." Those who accept Christ as 
their substitute are saved with an everlasting salvation. Once the 
slaves of sin and servants of Satan, they are now the children of 
God, heirs of glory and fellow heirs with Christ. The cross of 
Christ is the Bock of Eefuge, and every poor sinner that stands 
to-night under its shadow is saved from the wrath of God threat- 
ened against all transgressors. 

He is also a rock of refuge from the storm of earthly troubles. 
Now these are of two kinds. They may either be those of a 
general public nature, in which all are involved, or those of a 
private and personal character peculiar to yourselves. 

1. In public distress : — All around us lie the elements of a 
moral convulsion swift and terrible as the winds of the wilderness, 
and seasons of calamity and trial spring from many causes. Such 
a time of trouble is described by David in the forty-sixth psalm 
when he speaks of the mountains being carried into the midst 
of the sea, yet says he, " We will not fear: God is our refuge and 
strength." Our Lord also speaks to His disciples of the "distress 
of nations with perplexity ; and of men's hearts failing for f ear 
and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth;" 
yet he adds, " In patience possess ye your souls, be not terrified," 
nor were they, when times came which tried their constancy and 
courage. Bravely and heroically they met the prejudice, the 
power and the persecution of the world arrayed against them 
for the sake of Christ. They faithfully bore their testimony and 
fearlessly sealed it with their blood, because they rested on the 
Hock, and believed on Him who gave them strength to bear and 
do all that was required of them. 

We, too, live in times wherein there may be trouble, as there 
has been in the recent past in our own land, and as exists to-day 
in other lands. We have no guarantee that some public calamity 
or general misfortune, may not come to test us as a nation — 
a time of terrible trial and suffering. In such days, is it the 
character of our institutions, grand and noble as they are, 
is it the wisdom of our statesmen and eloquence of our 
orators, or the bravery of our soldiers to which we are to look 
for refuge and safety, for consolation and hope ? Nay, but to 
the Man of whom my text speaks, who sits at God's right hand. 
He is wise and true, faithful and strong, and He is head over all 
things to the church, which is His body, and all things, therefore, 
are constrained to work out His glorious will. Let a man have a 
vigorous grasp of that one truth, let him submit himself to the 



CHRIST OUR ROCK, REFUGE AND REFRESHMENT. lit 

all-triumphant sceptre of Jesus Christ, and to the quenchless love 
of His wondrously tender heart, and he may be serene and strong 
when other men tremble and despair. " Kiss the Son lest He be 
angry and ye perish from the way, when His wrath is kindled 
but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in Him." 

2. Besides these general trials that may come upon us, there are 
private and personal ones, which are hard to endure. Every soul 
knows its own bitterness, bows beneath its own burden of sorrow, 
feels intensely its own peculiar cravings, and bears its own load 
of care. He in whom we believe, and whose glorious gospel we 
preach, was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and it 
is the lot of God's children, many times in this world, to endure 
hardness as good soldiers. Is it personal sickness ? Is it pinch- 
ing poverty? Is it heavy losses ? Is it blighted hopes? Have 
friends proved false or have they been removed ? Does unde- 
served obloquy and malicious persecution follow you ? Then do 
not despair ; for naught has befallen you that has not befallen 
Him whom ye call Lord and Master. He has borne it, so may 
you. You can go to Him in all such times of affliction and dis- 
tress, and tell Him all your griefs, and be strengthened by the 
assurance " as thy day so shall thy strength be." God's grace 
shall be sufficient for thee and He will supply thy every need. 
The Lord Jesus is a rock of refuge in times of personal distress, 
to which we may flee for succor. " Keep me as the apple of the 
eye ; hide me under the shadow of Thy wings. The Lord is my 
rock and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in 
whom I will trust." 

We proceed to our second general topic, viz: that the Lord 
Jesus Christ, in my text, and in the gospel, is presented, not only 
as a Rock of Refuge, a place of perfect safety, but as a River of 
refreshment, a source of unfailing supply. First, He is a river 
of refreshment when we are weary with the vanity and unsat- 
isfactory nature of all earthly things. The human heart longs 
for happiness. Like the horse-leech, its continual cry is " give, 
give !" Nothing in this world can satisfy its insatiable desire. 
It has explored all the regions of sense, of imagination and af- 
fection, but in vain. The unsatisfied hunger of the heart, the un- 
slaked thirst of the soul, destroys all peace and precludes happi- 
ness. It is a grand thing, our noblest distinction, that we have 
been created by God with capacities which no worldly object can 
satisfy and which nothing else but the love of God can fill. But 
if we have not found God, how hard and desperate is the strug- 
gle after happiness and peace, and how indefatigable the endeavor 
to find what will satisfy the longings of the heart. Men have 
sought their chief good in various objects, in pleasure, in posses- 
sions, in scientific inquiry, in subtle speculation, in sublime phi- 



178 



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losophy, in literature and art, in fame and influence and power, 
but all have failed. An experiment of that kind was made long 
ago on a most magnificent scale. You will find a record of it in the 
second chapter of the book of Ecclesiastes. The royal preacher 
exhausted all the resources of knowledge, wealth, power, fame 
and pleasure, and declares, at last, that all is vanity and vexation 
of spirit. There are few men in this world who have not tried 
the experiment for themselves, and there has never been one who 
has succeeded in satisfying the yearnings of the soul with the 
things of the present world. All those things which appear so 
attractive and for which we strive so hard, are but delusions. 
Let me refer, by way of illusti ation, to the experience of a 
traveler on the desert. He is weary and thirsty, toiling along 
under the heat of the burning sun, and suddenly he sees afar off 
what seems to be the sparkling waters of a lakelet, into whose 
bosom he hopes to cast his weary limbs, and with whose limpid 
waters he will quench his thirst. Inspired by the prospect he 
hastens on with renewed strength, but when he reaches the place 
which promised so fair, he discovers it was only a mirage, nothing 
more, while the heat is more intense and the thirst more intoler- 
able. So it is with those who have tried the experiment of satis- 
fying the wants of the human soul with the things of this world. 
They may be eminently successful in the pursuit of the objects 
which they have in view, but when they have obtained possession of 
them, they find that they utterly fail to bring satisfaction and con- 
tentment to the heart. Not long ago I heard a man in this city 
say, "When I entered life, I gave my heart to business, and I 
have been successful far beyond my most sanguine hopes, but now 
I am an old man, and what does it amount to ? " Yes, what does 
it all amount to, when the evil days come and the years draw 
nigh when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them, when the 
grasshopper becomes a burden and desire fails, and when the 
possession of wealth and influence and all the things which the 
world deems essential to happiness, can bring to the hungry, 
weary soul, no satisfaction or joy ! It would be wise for us to 
take heed of such experiences and understand that however earn- 
est and indefatigable our efforts may be, and however great may 
be our success, it is impossible for the human soul$ created in 
God's likeness, ever to be satisfied without Him, and we bless Him 
for it. There is an ancient fable, which may serve still further 
to illustrate my meaning : — the golden apples which hung in the 
garden of Hesperides. These apples were the Australia or Cali- 
fornia of the ancients, guarded with such peculiar care that it 
was almost impossible for any one to discover and secure them. 
Still one after another would strive to reach the wall and scale it, 
although they walked through long lines of whitened bones that 



CHRIST OUR ROCK, REFUGE AND REFRESHMENT. 179 

spoke of the failure of previous attempts. At last one gets a 
little nearer than the others, and ultimately reaches the wall, and 
by one desperate clutch grasps the fruit. What then ? Dust and 
allies only in his hand ! What does it amount to ? Eminent 
position has been attained, millions have been accumulated, fame 
the most widespread has been acquired. What is it % Dust and 
ashes in the skeleton hand, that is all ! Let us understand, if we 
are to be permanently happy and peaceful in this world, we must 
seek after the things of God, for He alone can satisfy the wants 
of the human soul. Compared with such a possession, every- 
thing else is as nothing. 

Second. — But not only have we a source of comfort when we 
are discouraged, baffled, disappointed and distressed ; not only 
have we something which will satisfy to the uttermost, the wants 
of the soul, we have more. We have a river of refreshment in 
times of weariness and exhaustion from the sorrows and trials of 
life. Now, it is perfectly obvious that it is not the purpose of 
God to take His children out of this sinful world as soon as they 
are converted. They are left here for a wise purpose, to glorify 
their God ; to be trained and disciplined into higher spiritual excel- 
lence, and for extended usefulness in the service of their great 
Master. While here they are subject to the ills to which our flesh 
is heir, and are exposed to some troubles peculiar to themselves. 
In the providence of God trials come upon all ; and sometimes in 
the hour of weariness and despondency, when the way is long and 
the heat oppressive ; when friendless and shelterless and alone, 
the child of God may be fearful lest he may fail after all. But 
fear not ; do not believe it for one moment. In your weariness 
and weakness and loneliness, it may seem to you that God has hid 
His face from you and you walk in darkness. It may be that per- 
sonal affliction has come upon you ; that those who are dearer to 
you than your own life are passing away ; that that dear cherub 
face on which you have looked with ineffable delight is growing 
thinner every day, that the eyes that brightened at your coming 
become more and more sunken, and other unmistakable signs 
tell you that God has sent for your darling boy. Or it may be, 
that the son upon whom you had set your heart and your hopes is 
disobedient and unfilial, dissolute and depraved. There are some 
sorrows that are sorer than death. But, whatever . may be your 
sorrow, suffering child of God, go to Jesus in penitence and 
prayer, and tell Him the story of your grief. Kecall His wondrous 
mercy and compassion, and His still more wondrous love. The 
same Jesus lives and loves and sympathizes with you now, that 
blessed the lives of those among whom He lived in the days when 
He walked the earth ; the same Jesus, who, with infinite tender- 
ness, healed the sick, gave sight to the blind, cleansed the lepers, 



ISO tJNDEfc CANVAS. 

cast out devils, and who wept at the tomb of Lazarus and brought 
him forth to life once more. Go to Him, and touch, if it were 
but the hem of His robe, and then will thy languid pulse beat 
with a healthier throb, and thy nerveless spirit thrill with new 
life and peace and strength. Jesus hears, Jesus succors, Jesus 
saves. How strong have been the souls of thousands of God's 
people, even in the very midst of the fiery furnace, for close by 
their side stood One whose form was like unto the Son of God. 
Though no other eye has seen Him, yet when' His children have 
been passing through the fire, He has been with them. What was 
it that the first martyr for Christ saw amid the pitiless pelting of 
murderous stones ? Through them he saw the heavens opened, 
and Jesus standing there. So it is to-day with God's children. 
The trials and afflictions that come upon them are sent by the 
hand of infinite love, and they work out for them a far more 
exceeding and eternal weight of glory. This Book is full of 
instances where God has succored and protected His children in 
times of sore trouble and distress. Hagar, in the wilderness, was 
comforted and relieved by the loving hand of God. The widow's 
cruise of oil was replenished by the Bountiful Benefactor, who 
provides for the wants of His children. Peter saw the Saviour 
coming on the water, and asked that he might be permitted to 
walk to Him on that liquid floor. The waves were very high, 
and beginning to sink, he cried " Lord, save me, or I perish ! " 
and Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him out. If you 
cannot swim when the water of affliction and trial encompass you, 
you can cry, " Lord, save," and the hand of the Lord will be out- 
stretched for your deliverance. A poor woman, who had suffered 
for many years with a sore affliction and could obtain no relief, 
pressed her way through the throng, and touched the hem of His 
garment, and was immediately healed. It was the touch that did 
it. He knew it, she knew it, whether the world knew it or not. 
"Whether the disciples rebuked her or not made very little differ- 
ence. She knew she was healed. So when trials and sufferings 
and sorrow are upon us, God will give us strength in our weak- 
ness ; and, by-and-bye, we shall sit by His side on His throne,, as 
He sits with the Father upon His throne. Is not then, the 
Lord Jesus Christ a rock of refuge, and are not they perfectly 
safe who trust in Him ? Is He not a river, — not a mere reservoir 
whose contents may become exhausted — but a river, whose living 
waters regale and refresh our weary hearts ; and whose supplies 
are as unfailing as the Eternal Throne ! 

But, though the story is not half told, I must hasten to a 
conclusion. Whom did the rock shelter from the tempest ? Only 
the man that got behind it, and nobody else. Suppose that 
traveler should stand, and say, " I don't believe it is a rock at all ; or 



CHRIST OUR ROCK, REFUGE AND REFRESHMENT. 181 

even if it is, I don't believe it is accessible ; and if it is accessible, I 
don't believe I can get to it; I am exhausted now, I can go no further ; 
I can never get there." If the man had tlms stood and reasoned 
with himself until the storm overtook him, and he had been over- 
whelmed and buried, whose f anlt wonld it have been ? Or if the 
thirsty traveler in the desert seeing the streamlet in the distance and 
hearing its murmur, should stop, and say, " I doubt whether it is 
water, it may only be white sand glittering in the sunlight, a mere 
delusion, — nothing more ; or if it is water, it may be brackish and 
I cannot drink it ; or if it is good water, there are others there 
now, and they will drink it all ; or if they do not, I am exhausted, 
and can go no further." If the poor, doubting, captious man had 
perished of thirst, whose fault would it have been ? Now the 
application is plain. You may believe that Jesus died to save the 
lost. You may believe that He has saved countless thousands in 
glory and on earth. You may see others saved by drinking the 
water of life ; but you drink not yourselves, and your thirst is not 
slaked. You are dying of thirst, dear hearers ; this river of life 
will flow rippling on, as full and as free as it has ever done, and 
thousands will drink and be satisfied with the water of life. The 
musical murmurs of its waters will still delight thirsty and weary 
souls, but you may not be there to hear it. The gospel will be 
just as free to-morrow as it is to-day, but you may not be there to 
be invited. Save us, oh, God of mercy, from incurring the awful 
responsibility of rejecting the Saviour and neglecting His salva- 
tion ! Better you had never been born, than to have heard of tins 
Rock of Refuge and tins River of Refreshment, and neither hie thee 
to the one nor drink of the other. May God lead us all to the 
Rock that is liigher than we. May we, to-night, seek safety and 
refreshment in the Lord Jesus Chrict. Unto Him that loved us, 
and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us 
kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory and 
dominion forever and ever. Amen. 



CHAPTER XXII. 



JESUS KNOCKETH, KN0CKE.TH AT THY DOOR. 



SERMON BY THE REV. WILLIAM LLOYD, OF THE WASHINGTON SQUARE 
M. E. CHURCH, ON THURSDAY, SEPT. 14, 1876. 



" Behold, I stand at the door aDd knock : If any man hear My voice, and 
open the door, 1 will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." — 
Eev. Hi., 20. 

It is a night of perfect beauty. Not a sound breaks the calm 
save the soft music of the night wind as it breathes through the 
trees, awakening music sweet as the chords of an iEolean harp. 
The moon is just arching over a distant cloud, and reveals to our 
view a once magnificent, but now dismantled mansion. The door 
is fast closed, and around its lintels clings the tendrils of the 
poison ivy, while the pathway is choked with nettles and deadly 
weeds. Before that barred door stands a Man of majestic aspect, 
clothed in sacradotal vestments, His royal mantle clasped by the 
priestly breast-plate. In His hand is the lamp of truth, the light 
from which reveals the desolation that reigns around. He raises 
the knocker upon the door, and as the sound echoes through hall 
ana room, He cries : " Behold ! I stand at the door and knock." 
There is no response. We wait in vain to catcli the sound of 
bolts withdrawn ; yet still amid the rank hemlock and the falling 
night dews, stands that Kingly Suppliant pleading for admission 
into the house barred in His face. Thus has the great painter, 
Holman Hunt, embodied upon canvas the matchless and impres- 
sive allegory of my text. The truth designed to be set before us 
here, is the contact with, and influence upon the human soul of 
Christ Jesus our Lord. That mansion, once so fair but now almost 
in ruins, is your soul. Long has the door, while opening readily 
to others, been closed against your Lord, while habits of sin like 
the stem of the poison ivy cling closely about your heart. To- 
night, Christ Jesus stands, and through the inner chambers of 
your being sends the appeal, " Behold, I stand at the door and 
knock : If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will 
come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." 



JESUS kNOCKETH, KNOCKETH AT THY DOOR. 183 

This beautiful figure does not lessen, but rather enhances the 
force of the appeal. This earnest entreaty was first made to the 
Laodicean church. Clothed in the flaunting finery of material 
wealth, and decked in the gilded happiness of a boastful self-suffi- 
ciency, they regarded themselves as rich, and in need of nothing, 
while in the eyes of the great Head of the Church they were 
utterly impoverished ; and their gaudy clothing but masked beg- 
gary and nakedness. 

To these doors came the Son of God, laden with true riches 
and heavenly vestments. From house to house He passes, crying, 
" Buy of Me ; " offering them the tried gold which would alone 
stand the fire ; the white raiment washed in His own blood, which 
no earthly loom could weave ; healing balms for the sin-sick soul 
which no other laboratory could distill. 

But in vain did He lift up His pleading voice On He goes, 
from street to street, until the evening shadows fall. The dark- 
ness deepens ; and still He is seen standing before the doors of 
the dwellings, and the. streets echo with the appeal : " Behold, I 
stand at the door and knock." But in vain ; the morning breaks 
and the last call dies away, and the Suppliant departs. Morning 
breaks, and upon every house is written the doom of the dweller 
there. Christ had knocked at the door, but had knocked in vain. 

So, my hearers, Christ stands before you to-night. In His 
right hand is length of days, and in His left hand riches and 
honor. With all ihe grace and healing and blessedness you need 
He stands knocking, knocking, knocking at the door of your 
heart. 

I. Christ's contact with the soul. — " Behold, I stand ! " 
This is expressive of constant contact. He does not occasionally 
visit you, make a faint impression upon your heart, and then 
for a time leave you untouched. He is ever present; always 
standing at the door, ready to enter the moment the bolts are 
withdrawn. There are three thoughts suggested by this : 

1. — Christ s deep love for the soul. 

The Word of God asserts that the interests of the soul are pre- 
eminent, and of the first importance. Upon this the value of 
Divine revelation rests. It comes to us revealing the nature, the 
value, and the destiny of the individual soul. Its aim is to lift 
men out of the dominion of the sensual and visible laws, and 
bring them under the power of the spiritual laws of the world to 
come. Therefore, it states, and repeatedly enforces the value of 
the soul above all that is material. Men, while they acknowledge 
this, do not act upon their acknowledgement. The present is an 
age of practical materialism. All our energies are centred in the 
schemes and attaimnents of the present life. To amass wealth, 
gain positions, or wield power over others, are the objects sought 



184: UNDER CANVAS. 

and pursued with the greatest zest. Education is largely devoted 
to fitting men for success in the present life, with but little, if 
any, regard to the future. The soul's eternal interests, men seem 
to think, will either take care of themselves, or can be settled by 
a few prayers when the last sand of life is running out, and 
death, with cold hands, is tugging at the heart's last rending 
chords. But not so does God regard man and his destiny. The 
soul is in the eyes of God of priceless value. Language is 
altogether too poor to describe it. " Comparisons, however strik- 
ing, are in vain." 

He who fashioned every part of the material universe, from 
the mightiest orb to the smallest flower ; whose power enriched 
its caves with precious stones, and veined its rocks with gold ; 
He who knows all that its combined wealth can procure, has set- 
tled the question of the soul's superior value in the words, " For 
what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose 
his own soul ? or, what shall a man give in exchange for his 
soul ?" Yes, Christ understood its value and saw its imminent 
peril. He knows its capabilities, its powers, its relations, its in- 
terminable history. He saw the lost in sin and guilt bartering 
away immortal joy for present gratification. The love He felt 
for the soul brought Him down to earth to seek and save it 
— save it by entering it Himself and making it His permanent 
home, enriching it with His grace and covering its nakedness with 
His own seamless robe. The incarnation was the expression of 
His deep concern for the salvation of man. That strange three- 
and-thirty years that lay between the manger and the cross were 
lived in order that He might come into living contact with the 
soul. The birth, the baptism, the temptation, the agony, the 
death of Jesus are the expressions of His deep concern for the 
soul. Every pang of woe that the presence of evil caused to 
shoot through His spotless soul ; every tear that fell down His 
marred visage ; every thrill of horror that He endured in the 
dark hour of Gethsemane ; every drop of blood that trickled 
from His thorn-crowned brow, or gushed from His hands and 
side ; the unutterable grief that swept in surging billows over 
Him when He rent the darkened heavens with the cry, " Eloi !" 
all blend to-night to give emphasis to the words of my text : 
" Behold, I stand at the door and knock : if any man hear My 
voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with 
him, and he with Me." 

2. — Chrisfs marvellous condescension. 

The annals of our earth are not destitute of many instances 
of noble condescension. We have read of monarchs who have 
laid aside the stately emblems of rank, and entered unknown the 
huts of wretchedness and the haunts of crime. Tales linger in 



JESUS KNOCKETH, KNOCKETH AT THY DOOR. 185 

our memory of noble men and women who have dried the or- 
phan's tears, and made glad the stricken widows' hearts ; who, to 
uplift and bless the down-trodden and oppressed have chosen to 
share their lot, flinging the mantle of their charity over the shiv- 
ering forms of the naked, and the plumed head has bent very 
gracefully over the head of the sufferer, and the jewelled hand has 
blanched to a heavenlier whiteness, as it beckoned struggling peo- 
ple into freedom. Our hearts thrilled, and the hearts of millions 
beside, who read the story of the brave man whose heart 
yearned over the West Indian slave, and who, when he found that 
to preach Christ to them, he must become a slave himself, signed 
the contract for his own bondage, and bared his back to the task- 
master's lash. This Book tells us of angels who laid aside their 
harps and left their thrones that they might fan the clammy brow 
of the dying beggar, and then bear his spirit upward to Ab- 
raham's bosom. But all these deeds of love and condescension 
fade away beside the condescension of our Lord standing at the 
door of the sinner's heart. O, who can measure the distance 
between the throne of the universe and the sin-stained threshold 
of a soul ! As the glory of this Being of beings, who pleads for 
admission to your soul, flashed upon the surprised prophets, even 
lips touched with living fire faltered and failed. He who was 
the Shiloh whose royalty illumined Jacob's dying bed ; the Star 
whose lustre fell across the fast darkening horizon of Balaam ; the 
Lion of Judah, the tread of whose feet shook the cedars ; David's 
Lord, Isaiah's Immanuel, Jeremiah's Branch, Haggai's Desire of 
all nations, Malachi's Sun of Righteousness dropping healing from 
His wings ; He, in fact, of whom all the prophets bear witness ; 
who by the word of His mouth built up the universe, reared 
every arch and pillar of nature's temple, hanging stars in its 
roof for altar lamps, while its thousand voices ring an eternal 
peal to His praise — He stands at the door of the vilest sinner's 
heart to-night. O, behold Him, the mighty God ; the Prince of 
peace — Heaven's crowned and adored King, standing, His head 
bared to the pitiless storm, pleading at the sinner's heart, while 
the voice that spake a world from naught, cries, " Behold, I stand 
at the door, and knock : if any man hear My voice, and open the 
door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me." 

3. — Chris fs unvjearying patience. 

u Behold, I stand at the door, and knock •" as though He 
would say : Though long rejected, yet I stand. 

Since the creation of the world He has been standing at the 
door of human hearts. He stood at the door of the antidelu- 
vians and never left them until they utterly refused to admit Him, 
and then destruction came and swept them away as witli a flood. 
He has stood, and is now standing, at the door of every unopened 



186 UNDJGB CANVAS. 

heart in this assembly. The kindest earthly friend would have 
departed long ago. Young man, old man, He has stood at your 
door for many years and still He stands. He waiteth to be gra- 
cious. Oh, had He knocked but once, and, when refused, left us 
to all the horror of a hopeless, Christless eternity, it would have 
been but just. But wonderful patience, He yet stands there. 

II. — Christ's influence upon the soul. 

He knocks! By this. strong figure I understand the impres- 
sion of Divine appeals and claims upon the soul by the Holy 
Spirit. When our Lord ascended, He gave the promise of the 
Holy Ghost, and declared, " When He is come, He will reprove 
the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment." In our 
worldliness we fail to notice the pleading Saviour who stands 
waiting at the door ; then the Spirit, in some way or other, en- 
forces our attention, as a knock, echoing through a house, arouses 
its inmates. Christ knocks by the Holy Spirit's influence. In 
various ways, and by many entrances, does Christ approach and 
appeal to the soul. In harmony with the figure of the text, I may 
say, the soul has many doors, and Christ knocks at them all. He 
knocks by His Word. " Is not My Word a hammer," saith the 
Lord, "that breaketh the rocks in pieces?" This Word strikes 
differently upon different characters. By it Christ knocks at the 
door of the intellect. Truths which the mind vainly seeks else- 
where, and without the knowledge of which it cannot rest, are 
here plainly revealed. Some men can only be reached by these 
truths. The way into the soul lies through the vaulted chambers 
of reason only. Their hearts can be only got at through their 
heads. Others need to be aroused and alarmed, and by the 
solemn, awful truths of Death, Judgment, Heaven, Hell, Christ 
knocks at the door of fear. Blow after blow falls until the 
citadel trembles at the shock. Oh, there are many who will 
never admit Christ until they are made to tremble as did Felix — 
to . quail awe-strieken and white-lipped with terror at the awful 
results of keeping Him out. To others He appears radiant with 
a transcendant loveliness, and, charmed with His beauty, they 
hasten to let down every bar and admit Him ; while others are 
won by the revelations of Heaven's glories, and hope turns the 
key, and the Master enters. By all these doors Christ seeks to 
enter, and at each He stands knocking by the terrors or the allure- 
ments, the threatenings or promises of His Word. By that Word 
He knocks now. Oh, I am so glad that I have not in my own 
feeble strength, and with my frail words, to plead alone, or 
wrench the bolts from your hearts. It is not the preacher but 
the Word which must do the work. When the call to arms peals 
over an host, it is not the bugler, but the clearness and mirthful- 
ness of the bugle note that will thrill every heart and stiffen 



JESFJS KNOCKETH, KNOCKETH AT THY DOOR. 187 

every sinew for the strife. To-night I put my lips to the gospel 
trumpet and blow with all my might the call to every sinner to 
repent. Oh, may the sound be clear and certain ! To-night I take 
up the hammer of the Word and bring it down upon the barred 
door of your soul and cry for my Master, " Behold, I stand at the 
door and knock : if any man hear My voice, and open the door, 
I will come in to him, and w T ill sup with him, and he with Me." 

Again, Jesus knocks by special providences. It is true that 
every day wdth its general care and rich blessings, calls upon men 
to open their hearts and receive Christ, but this fails and He 
knocks more loudly by special providences. For example, the 
knock comes by sickness. It is difficult for us to realize when in 
perfect health, that in a single day we may be laid aside, to lan- 
guish, droop, and die. Often because man will not listen and 
open the door in health, Christ lays him aside. The health and 
strength which had been the man's trust, and had been squandered, 
suddenly fails. You will go home from the store, or from your 
desk, and say to your friends: " I don't feel well to-night." 
The morning comes and your head throbs and burns with fever. 
The physician is called. The fever leaps like fire through your 
veins. The wife looks at you with eyes full of heart-break, the 
children hush their prattle, and tread softly on the stairs. In the 
anxious eye of the physician you read " Danger." Eternity 
looms up and flings a shadow over the bed. In the silence of 
that hushed home, the cry is heard " Prepare to meet thy God /" 
While the answer comes, " Lord, spare me a little longer ; I can- 
not meet Thee as I am. O, let me live, and my life shall be 
Thine." Ah, has He not knocked thus at some hearts here ? 
Have you kept your vow ? Is Christ in your heart ? If not, O, 
let down the bars and admit Him now. 

Again the knock comes, and this time by a bereavement. 
Often this is the loudest knock of all. Our earthly loves are not 
offensive to God. Having given us the capacity to love, the lawful 
exercise of it is well-pleasing to Him. The deeper trust, and 
fonder, our love for our friends, the better pleased God is. But 
when our love for earthly beings reigns supreme ; when they are 
enthroned rivals, keeping Christ out of the heart, then they are 
often suddenly swept from our embrace. O, there are many to 
whom such knockings have come ! You have seen some loved 
one indicate disease. You have seen it spread rapidly until all 
hope vanished. You wait till morning breaks, but it breaks up- 
on a still, pulseless form. Jesus knocks ; then comes the coffin 
and you see the form robed for the tomb. Jesus knocks ; you 
follow it to the grave and as the clods rattle hollowly upon the 
casket, Jesus knocks. You return home, but the silence of the 
house, the absence of the merry voice which used to fill the 



188 UNDER CANVAS. 

house with glee, but is now hushed in the grave, drapes your 
heart in still heavier gloom. By the memory of those little ice- 
cold fingers Jesus knocks. O, I entreat you listen as that plead- 
ing voice cries again to-night, " Behold, I stand at the door and 
knock." 

III. — Christ's demand to the soul, open the door. 

I cannot dwell upon this. The hour for the service is well 
nigh past. Suffer just a word. There is a limit to Christ's 
action upon the soul. He will knock, plead, entreat for admit- 
tance, but He will never force an entrance. The door to the 
soul is guarded by free agency. You must open the door. You 
must receive Christ or He will never dwell therein. 

Open the door, and He will make your heart His home. 
" Will God, in very deed, dwell with man upon the earth ? " 
questioned the prophet ; and all humanity waits the reply. Liste?i. 
From the pavilion of the Lord Jehovah, comes the reply : " With 
that man will I dwell, who is poor, and of a contrite spirit." 
Again, I say, Open the door. You can admit none greater. It is 
the Kind of Kings who knocks. Open the door, for the last 
knock will be given. When that pleading Yoice ceases to plead, 
"What then?" Admit Christ into your heart, and He will 
admit you into His Home. When life is over, and earth's doors 
close upon you, and the gates of the grave clang behind you, you 
will find heaven's everlasting doors open to let you in. Jesus 
still lingers. Oh, Spirit of God, stay a little longer ! Knock, O, 
Christ, once again with Thy nail-pierced hand ! Let down the 
bars, O soul. 

In the silent midnight watches, 

List thy bosom door, — 
How it knocketh, knocketh, knocketh, 

Knocketh evermore. 
Say not 'tis thy pulses beating ; 

'Tis thy heart of sin, 
'Tis thy Saviour knocks and crieth, 

" Rise, and let Me in ! " 

Death comes on with reckless footsteps, 

To the hall and hut ; 
Think you death will tarry knocking 

Where the door is shut ? 
Jesus waiteth, waiteth, waiteth, 

But the door is fast ; 
Grieved, away thy Saviour goeth, 

Death breaks in at laat. 

Then 'tis time to stand entreating 

Christ to let thee in ; 
At the gate of heaven beating, 

Waiting for thy sin. 
Nay, alas, thou wretched creature, 

Hast thou then forgot ? 
Jesus waited long to know thee ; 

Now He knows thee not. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 



NOT YET. 



SERMON BY THE REV. CHARLES F. DEEMS, D.D., OF THE CHURCH OF THE 
STRANGERS, N. Y., ON WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 20, 1876. 



"Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts, saying, this people say, the time is not 
come, the time that the Lord's House should be built." — Haggai i., 2. 

The history of this case is this : 

The Jews had been carried away into Babylon as captives, 
their city having been sacked and their civil and religious polity 
totally suspended. In that captivity they lacked the moral 
influence of the prophets. Those extraordinary messengers, which 
God had vouchsafed to them and their fathers from time to time, 
came no more amongst them. 

It was not until about eighteen years after they returned to 
the Holy Land that God sent such men as Haggai and Zechariah 
to rekindle the flames of zeal and holy effort. The Babylonish 
captivity had been terminated by the overthrow of Babylon by 
the Persian, Cyrus, who, on coming to full possession of the em- 
pire, published a decree setting the Jewish people free, permitting 
them to return to their own country, and rebuild the temple in 
Jerusalem. He sent with them many of the sacred vessels which 
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had brought out of the temple 
in Jerusalem, and placed in the temple of his god Bel. Cyrus, 
furthermore, issued letters recommending the governors of the 
various provinces to render the Jews assistance in rebuilding their 
city and their holy house. It is said that 50,000 people took 
advantage of this decree to assemble at Jerusalem. 

Under the leadership of Zerubbabel, who was of the royal 
family, and of Joshua, who was of the priestly family, the good 



190 UNDER CANVAS. 

work began. They reinstituted their feasts. They put up a tem- 
porary altar. They made great collections of money and great 
outlay to bring together the requisite stones and timbers. In the 
second year they laid the foundation of the temple with great 
pomp, the apparelled priests with trumpets and the Levites with 
cymbals leading the people in their songs and shouts. 

But all things did not go forward swimmingly. Enemies 
arose, jealous neighbors who were ready to obstruct their work, 
who, although they could not annul the decree of Cyrus, could 
weaken the hands and frustrate the purposes of the people of 
Judah. This they did through the whole reign of Cyrus, in 
which the work went on slowly, and they obtained from his suc- 
cessor authority to suspend the rebuilding, and from the next 
king, who was a usurper, a total prohibition. That prohibition 
expired with the death of the usurper. 

Then arose Haggai and Zechariah, urging the people to 
resume the work. But they had become so engrossed in their 
own affairs, and had become so apathetic toward religion and the 
temple, that these zealous prophets had great difficulty in bringing 
them around to their duty. Although Darius, the son-in-law of 
Cyrus, and now occupying the throne, had issued another decree, 
confirming the favorable edict of Cyrus, and giving the Jews large 
encouragement and help, they made divers excuses for their lack 
of devotion. They had begun to discover arithmetical pretexts 
for their postponement. It was not yet time to build the Lord's 
House. The prophet Jeremiah had predicted that it would be 
seventy years from the destruction of the temple to the time it 
should be rebuilt : so they interpreted the prophecy in which 
Jeremiah had said, " this whole land shall be a desolation and an 
astonishment ; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 
seventy years." 

I cannot forbear stopping in this recital to call attention to 
the different effects of the reading of the scriptures upon differ- 
ent minds. These very prophecies had stirred up Daniel, in 
Babylon, to press his prayers at God's mercy-seat for the deliver- 
ance of his people. It was enough for him that the time was 
drawing near. Any intimation he could gather of God's favor-, 
able purpose he was ready to press into the plea of his prayer. 
But when freedom came, and these people might rebuild the 
temple, they took these very words of the prophet and began to 
cipher on them to see if they could prove that Haggai and Zacha- 
riah were in too great a hurry, and that the people may take 
more time in house-building and money-making before they need 
revive the temple question. In all ages of the w T orld men have 
been found of this temper — mere calculating machines, or arith- 
metical interpreters of God's providences. 



NOT YET. 19 L 



111 our time we have had abundant illustrations of the folly of 
attempting to settle future events by the slate. It was a plain 
duty whieli the prophets urged upon these Jews, and they hid 
themselves behind an arithmetical calculation. 

In reading the history of this case, how forcibly there comes 
to us the conviction that the cause of God, in all ages, suffers 
more from its professed friends than from its open foes. It will 
always have foes, it has them now, it always has had. When the 
Samaritans and other enemies arose against the rebuilding, they 
would have availed little if the people had stood to their work, 
and had put forth their intellects to defeat the intrigue of the 
enemy at the court of the king. It was the selfishness, sloth, 
carelessness, and apathy of the Jews which caused the work to 
cease after the foundation had been laid. So it is now. All the 
outlay of brains and money which the enemies of Christianity 
make would avail little against its progress if all its professed 
friends were consistent and devoted ; if men were as intent to be 
in their places in the church as they are to be in their places in 
the store ; if the men of great business talents were as punctual 
at the meeting of church committees as they are at their appoint- 
ments in a bank or a Chamber of Commerce ; if all the women 
were as devoted to the cause of the Saviour in their domestic and 
social circles as they are to their personal comfort and beauty, 
and to etiquette. 

That it may come home to us, let us look at these things. 
During the past year it rained on one Sunday, and some of us, 
who are hale, hearty men, some of us who are young men, were 
absent from God's house. The weather was unfavorable. It 
rained just as hard on Monday morning, but somehow we all 
managed to be at our stores, at our banks, in our offices. Do 
you recollect how it rained on Tuesday night ? But a friend of 
ours was married that night, and we were invited. We all hired 
carriages to take our wives and daughters to the wedding. It 
was a foul week, and it rained on Wednesday night. Did you 
notice that we did not hire carriages to take our wives and 
daughters to the prayer-meeting ? 

These comparisons are recalled because they exist between 
things, all of which are proper. It is proper to be a merchant, a 
member of a Chamber of Commerce, a bank director. It is 
proper to take a certain care of one's comfort and beauty, and to 
study etiquette for the sake of courtesy. None of these things 
are improper. But but they are not the very highest concern of an 
im7Rortal soul. We do not profess that they are. We do pro- 
fess that our religion is. Now, when our children and clerks and 
customers and associates see this, it is damaging to them and to 
the great cause of truth and of Jesus in the world. 



192 UNDER CANVAS. 

It was not the Samaritan intrigue hut the Jewish apathy 
which permitted the temple to lay so long unfinished. Mark ! I 
say Jewish apathy, not opposition. The address of the prophet 
was not to those who did not desire the Lord's house to be built, 
or who believed that it ought not to be built : it was to those who 
believed that it ought to be built and must be built, and who 
greatly wished that it were built, but who said, "Not yet !" The 
work was to be done at some time : this they all consented to, 
but that time was not yet. 

This precisely describes the temper of thousands who crowd 
our churches in this day. Probably I am addressing hundreds 
such to-night. Your case, if you be such, is stated in a very few 
words • you are orthodox, hut inactive : your inactivity produces 
disastrous results, from which your orthodoxy cannot save you : 
your orthodoxy is so sound that it actually lulls you into a false 
security. From that I desire to arouse you to-night. 

I wish to avoid all grounds of difference, and to select a few 
topics upon which all serious and intelligent attendants on public 
Christian worship agree, that I may earnestly call attention to 
the fact that correctness of opinions and ruinousness of conduct 
may co-exist in the history of the same individual. We shall 
probably see how close a resemblance there is between much that 
we do and the course of the Jews to whom Haggai preached. 

Notice that they did not deny the existence of God, nor 
inveigh against religion as a superstition : that they did not deny 
the propriety and profit of public worship, and the necessity of 
having a temple. They said, " Jehovah is : " they said, 
" Jehovah's house is the temple : " they said, " That temple 
should be built. " How entirely correct these opinions were ! But 
they said, " Not yet ! the time is not come ! " Their sin lay in 
putting off — not doubtful things, but things they knew were right 
and good and beautiful, nay imperative. The temple must be 
built : that was a proposition never to be discussed ; but the time 
was an open question. They did not see that a postponement of 
action, in things that are imperative at the present moment, is a 
denial by the conduct of that which the intellect affirms and urges. 
It sets the whole life on a contradiction, which weakens the 
powers and breaks the influence. And instances of this conflict 
between the professed opinions and the open conduct of people 
abound inside the church and outside. Let us consider a few such. 

I. There is the subject of serious attention to one's personal 
salvation. 

There can be no controversy as to that. Whatever question 
may arise on a man's duty in other things, no regular and serious 
attendant on Christian worship — and it is that class I address 
to-night — will deny that it is a man's duty to give serious attention 



NOT YET. 193 

to kis soul, so that, as much as in him lies, he shall see that it 
receives no damage from any malign influences in the universe, 
and shall receive all possible good from all possible sources. Do 
we not all so thoroughly agree on that, that there is no room 
for controversy ? Nay, can we not increase the circle of believers 
in that proposition from those who are not regular attendants on 
Christian worship ? Are there not those who irregularly enter 
churches, who are absorbed in other things, who are seldom quite 
serious about anything which is not material and capable of having 
its value stated in currency : and are there not others who are far 
from leading orderly lives, who, if you put the appeal seriously 
to them, will not honestly admit that they believe their souls to 
be their most valuable possessions, and that if they lose their souls 
nothing will compensate that loss ? 

And yet, are all those people seeking to keep their souls from 
harm, and bring in all spiritual benediction ? They study their 
health. They go to sea-shore or mountain or medicinal springs, 
for physical improvement. They study art and science and liter- 
ature for mental improvement. And all these things they do while 
they wholly neglect the culture of the soul, and while they admit 
that the soul is more than their body, and more valuable than all 
fortune and all intellectual accomplishments. They will attend 
to this great interest, but not yet ! 

The young man has his "wild oats" to sow, a species of 
spiritual agriculture he has never seen bring a harvest of greatness 
or goodness to any other young man. Alas ! for that mad sowing ! 
It consumes the time in which the garden of the Lord should be 
cultivated. The Lord of the vineyard says, " Go work in My 
vineyard, and what is right that will I pay you." The young man 
says, " Excuse me : I go into another field, and there I sow my 
1 wild oats.' ' : Will it ever pay him ? Never. Does he know 
that ? Yes : he ought to know that he who sows the wind must reap 
the whirlwind. Why does he do it ? He believes that later in 
the day he will go into the Lord's vineyard. He does not deny 
that he should do so, sometime. He professes to believe that only 
the fruits gathered from that vineyard will endure in the garners 
of God. He forgets that, having sown his " wild oats," he must 
stay to reap them, and that there will be no time thereafter. 

A young woman professes to believe in the spiritual world, 
and expects to save her soul at last. But she must have her 
frivolities. She cannot think of devoting herself to Jesus now. 
She will hereafter. If you should be able to assure her, amid her 
heartless course of coquetry, that she should never come to Jesus, 
and never be a Christian, and never have that everlasting life 
which is the portion of believers, you would petrify her with 
horror. If you could show her a hard, hopeless, dark-souled old 



194 UNDER CANVAS. 

woman, dying, being ripped off from this life, to which she had 
glued her soul ; if, to that rose-cheeked, cherry-lipped, lily-browed, 
violet-eyed, beautiful young belle, you could show a sister dying 
in a cellar-brothel, dying horribly, eaten up of loathsome disease, 
in utter social and spiritual loneliness, and tell the gay young thing 
that that lost girl was once as hilarious and fascinating as she, and 
lived in the same house on the same avenue, and that to that 
state, or to the condition of the hard old hopeless woman, and to 
a worse hell beyond, she, the beautiful, must come at last, unless 
she be a Christian, she could not endure to think that of herself, 
but would say, "I must be saved ! I will be saved ! " " Then be 
a Christian now" would be your response. And her reply would 
be, "Not yet!" 

And there are men of business, whose' business tact and sense are 
very great, who know that there is no merchandise of silver and 
gold like wisdom, who know that they can obtain riches surpassing 
all that the mine and the ocean conceal, and also mean to do it 
when they have gathered the small-wares and petty gains of earth 
But not now ! There is some undertaking on hand which seems 
very important to them, some great railroad to be projected, some 
large bank or insurance company to be inaugurated, some vast 
land speculation to be engineered. " Great," "large," " vast ? " 
Ask such a man to put these things in comparison with the possible 
achievements of a forgiven and purified soul, working with Jesus 
on the fields of eternity, and he will readily admit that these are 
greater than those : and he means to have these : but not yet ! 

There are men held away from a Christian life by bad habits 
and bad associations. They know that the fascination of gaming 
and drinking is most hurtful to their souls. They know that the 
first act toward a Christian life will be to burst the bonds of these 
sinful habits, and they know they ought to do so, and they are 
always intending to do so, but — not yet ! It does require much 
moral courage to say to one's associates, " Gentlemen, I must quit 
the club. The associations here hold me to the vices of gaming 
and drinking. A Christian's money is Christ's money, and I dare 
not rob God. A Christian's body is a temple for the Holy 
Ghost, and I can no longer use mine as the instrument of mere 
sensual pleasure. And I am going to be a Christian." It is hard 
to do that. I do not see how any man can unless aided by God's 
Holy Spirit. But it must be done. And men know it. They 
will, sometime, but — not yet ! 

And thus serious devotion to the work of saving one's soul is 
postponed by thousands who admit that the duty is paramount and 
the interest is supreme. 

II. "The time is not come" causes also, the postponement of 
honest self-examination. 



NOT YET. 105 

Every reasonable man admits that it is of the utmost import- 
ance that every man know all about himself. Self-deception does 
no good. It does not heal a sick man to be ignorant of the fact 
that he is diseased. It does prevent the adoption of remedial 
methods. It is always best to know the worst of our affairs, the 
worst of our health, of our pecuniary condition, of our credit with 
our fellow men, and, above all, of our spiritual estate. 

It is senseless to prefer a brief enjoyment of false security. It 
unmans us. It often ruins us. But a strictly honest self-examina- 
tion is painful. It is always a revelation of defects, often of 
deformities. It is offensive to our selfishness. Who can bear it % 
It is so much more easy to take a general view of our affairs, and 
if that does not demonstrate our utter present ruin, we prefer to 
go on a little longer. 

It is that which makes merchants bankrupt. They feel a little 
uncertain about their affairs, but they will not probe them to the 
bottom.' They extend their operations on the credit of the best 
aspect of their affairs^ instead of building only on a ground they 
know is theirs. There must come a time when they shall know all. 
A postponement may make it so that w T hen that knowledge comes 
it will be of no service in the reparation of their losses or the 
management of their business. Better for a merchant to know 
every morning just what he owes and just what he owns, even if 
it make him contract his business and sacrifice many of his pleas- 
ures. Better that than ruin. Better for his comfort, better for 
his reputation, better for his future operations. 

Self-searching would lead to repentance, and faith, and a 
Christian life ; as a surgical operation would, after the pain and 
the soreness, bring healing and health. But between the present 
state of the patient and recovery lies that surgical operation. He 
dreads that. For dread of that he postponeth healing and the 
health. Just so it is with our souls. We will admit that a man 
must, at some time, know himself to the bottom of his soul, and 
that this knowledge is to be acquired by self-examination. It 
must be done, but — not yet ! 

III. This same plea leads us to a postponement of a public con- 
fession of Jesus. 

When men of thought or sentiment consider the claims of 
Jesus and His religion, they perceive or feel, generally both, that 
they are bound by all the ties of honor which bind men to cne 
another to stand by Him who has done more for the race than all 
other men. Any failure to respect the least wish of this Jesus, 
who is my greatest benefactor, to whom I am under the greatest 
possible debt of love, is an ingratitude which sadly damages my 
manhood. Why should I pride myself on my fidelity to other 
men if I be unfaithful to this Man ? He expressly desires me to 



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confess Him before men. He asks obedience to all God's moral 
regulations for His sake, for Jesus' sake. He asks my trust in 
Him, after displays of omnipotence, and omniscience, and proofs 
of boundless love by boundless sacrifice. He naturally expects a 
public acknowledgment of my friendship for Him. It is His due. 
It is my duty. 

This is the belief, as they frankly admit, of thousands of peo- 
ple in Christendom who allow month after month to pass without 
confessing Jesus. They profess to believe that if they do not 
confess Him before men, He will renounce them before His 
Father and the holy angels. They did not intend to submit them- 
selves to that greatest disgrace and ruin. They must therefore, 
make a public confession of Jesus as their Saviour ; and they 
will — but not yet ! .Not yet! although the judgment-seat may be 
set for them this night ! 

IY. Lastly, we come inside the Church. Professed Christians 
all unite in acknowledging that the greatest things should be 
done for Jesus. 

Why are not those things done by us \ Because we are 
the people that say, " The time is not come, the time that the 
Lord's house should be built." We deny nothing to the Lord in 
our professions. Our opinions are orthodox enough. There is no 
denial of right thought, but there is lack of right action. We put 
off what we know must, at some time, be done, but not this time. 

There are three influences producing in us this injurious spirit 
of procrastination. 

In the first place, we exaggerate the difficulties. 

There are always difficulties in every great undertaking, and 
frequently in smaller enterprises. To postpone the beginning of 
a great operation because of the difficulties, is no wiser than never 
to undertake anything that is great. The postponement will not 
diminish the difficulties. It will always be hard to do anything 
greater than we have ever done before. To a man with a manly 
spirit, difficulties provoke resistance and effort. 

It was not easy for those fifty thousand Jews to come back 
from captivity in a distant land, and replant themselves, and be- 
gin to rebuild their great temple which had been so splendid a 
structure, and to rehabilitate their nationality. It was not easy 
to set themselves against the machination of " the Dinaites and 
the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archev- 
ites, the Babylonians, the Susanchites, the Dehavites, the Elam- 
ites, and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble As- 
napper brought over and set in the cities of Samaria," led as 
they were, by Eebum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe. 
These were great difficulties, and men ought always to study the 
difficulties in any enterprise. 



NOT YET. 197 

But what had they to bring against these ? The decree of 
Cyrus, their own numbers and strength, and, above all, that God, 
for whom they were building, who had led their fathers from 
Egypt, and had overthrown Pharoah, and established His people 
in the land, and caused wealth to flow in until their king, Solo- 
mon, could erect the superb temple in Jerusalem, and who had 
delivered Daniel from the den of lions, and Shadrach, Meshach, 
and Abednego from the furnace of fire, and had put it into the 
heart of Cyrus to release them — they had their Jehovah, God of 
Hosts, to set over against their difficulties. 

No, brethren, we are kept from doing great things not because 
they are great and difficult, for we know that we must do them, 
but because we exaggerate the difficulties as compared with the 
resources of Christian faith. To him that believes all things are 
possible. If possible and obligatory, we should not strive to 
avoid by postponing. 

Another reason is our covetousness. 

That is the special besetment of Christian people. They can- 
not commit other sins, because those sins are conspicuous and tell 
on their consciences, but they can live covetously and no man 
know it. I have known men expelled from churches for heresy, 
adultery, lying, theft, and murder, but I never knew one who 
was excluded for covetousness. If any communicant, in any of 
our churches, should burn paper to his ancestors as the Chinese 
do, or set up a Hindoo or an African idol in his house and wor- 
ship it daily, there is not a church that would not expel him. St. 
Paul says, " Covetousness is idolatry." A covetous man is as cer- 
tainly leading a life of sin as a thief or a liar, and is classed by 
the apostle with those who have forsaken the living God and are 
worshipping gods that have no life. 

We do not like to individualize, but we see that this sin is as gen- 
eral now as it was when Haggai and Zechariah began to thunder 
on the consciences of the Jews of their day. The time to build 
the temple had not arrived, they said. They had not grown rich 
enough. They were too busy with the reconstruction of their 
private fortunes. But they had plenty of time to send to Leb- 
anon for cedar, and build beautiful villas on the good sites round 
about the temple ; and they found the means to do it. God 
could endure it no longer. He cried to them by the mouth of 
the prophet, saying, " Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your 
ceiled houses — and this house lie waste ?" There was the bare 
foundation of the temple in some places, and perhaps in others 
walls that had been run up partially, fourteen years ago, now 
tumbling into ruins, while their houses shone on the hill-sides, 
and they had all needed comforts. 

Alas ! it is so still. It is painful to see, in this day, what a 



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struggle has to be made if anything is needed for the cause of 
Jesus and the Church of God. There are men who even com- 
plain if money is solicited in the church, who, at home, do not 
wait for the asking, but provide it in advance. There probably 
never would be, in any Christian Church on earth, another solici- 
tation for any object, from this to the judgment day , if every bap- 
tized Christian would do his ditty in relation to money : because 
the treasuries of our churches would always be full and the in- 
tellect of the church would be given to the higher question, 
" How shall we best use this for the work of the Lord ? " 

It is a shame for any Christian man to live in a house which 
costs more than the church in which he worships. It is a shame 
for any Christian man to spend twenty times as much on his 
family annually as he does on the work of the Lord. Yet, many 
of us do it, and then, when something great is to be done, w r e plead 
poverty and say " the time is not yet ! " The stones out of our walls 
and the timbers out of our ceilings will cry against us. Our business 
is pushed, our plans prosper, our houses are built, while the work 
of the Lord is neglected, and the foundation of the Lord's house 
lie bare. 

Lastly, I think that we are led to put off Christian effort by 
our disposition to wait until all things are ready. 

No experience seems able to cure men of this propensity. 
There probably never was an undertaking of any magnitude for 
which all things were completely ready. Who can take a trip to 
Europe and not leave something undone that he wished to do ? 
Who can open a store, or launch a boat, or form a company, and 
not find that something has to be pushed at the last ? If there 
be anything imperative, our duty is to begin it and make things 
ready. 

If all the great improvements of the age had been held back 
until all things were ready, they never would have been brought 
forward. They have had to fight their way. While the whole 
civilized world is enjoying the uses of the telegraph, how few 
think of the immense force that was necessary to make the world 
receive it. Our late venerable fellow-citizen, Prof. Morse, could 
have told you how he was ridiculed in the beginning, and how 
many days of almost despair, with straitened means, he spent in 
bringing capital and legislation to the aid of invention. 

All the great moral reforms have had the same history. Sup- 
pose that Wesley and Whitefield had waited until all things were 
ready in the Anglican Church for a revival of gospel preaching 
and spiritual power, where had been the immense impetus which 
Christianity has received in the last century ? Suppose Luther 
had waited for pope and cardinal and bishop and priest to be 
ready for reformation, where had been that immense bursting of 



NOT YET. 190 

bonds which made his career glorious ? Suppose our adorable 
Saviour had waited until all the world should he ready to receive 
Him as its Redeemer, where had been our great redemption ? 

No, dear brethren : we must not put off what we ought to do, 
but do it, begin doing it now, do it as fast and as well as possible ; 
and thus, and only thus, can we expect the best results. 

How many evils come of procrastination, especially to those 
who admit that that which they put off must certainly be done. 

How it deadens the conscience by binding the senses and 
blunting the sensibilities ! A man's orthodoxy and good resolu- 
tions are so much the worse for him, if lie do not act on them. 
He says, " Are not my opinions all sound ? And have I not 
promised that I will at sometime do right ? What more can be 
expected ?" And he does not see that that postponement is all 
that is necessary to his ruin. The sick man knows that he is sick, 
knows he must take a certain medicine, and promises that he will 
do it : does that cure him ? Not at all. All that is necessary to 
secure his death is to keep him satisfied with the promise that he 
icill take the medicine and to keep him postponing the time. 

You need not inveigh against Jesus. All you need do for 
your spiritual ruin is merely to postpone the time of your coming. 
It is easier to do so when one is old than when one is young. It 
becomes easier all the while, until, at last, your " Not yet" bridges 
death, and lands us in the desolation beyond the grave. 

How it loses opportunities for us. If, when a man first has a 
conviction that he ought to do a certain thing, he would do it, 
how his moral strength would increase ! Every year a man stays 
away from Jesus he loses opportunities of laying up treasure in 
heaven, and of doing a friend's part hy his great friend Jesus. 

How this spirit of procrastination sets us in opposition to 
God's plan, which must be the best plan. God's time is " Now !" 
That ought to end all controversy and direct all action. The 
Lord says, "Now is the accepted time!" O think, my breth- 
ren, how impertinent and insulting is our reply, " The time is not 
come." Who knows, God or we ? 

There never will be a time for coming to Jesus better than 
this time — never in the history of one of you. Begin to build 
now. Just where you are, with just what you have, just as you 
can, begin, now begin ; and how rapidly you will find your 
resources growing and your power increasing. Think what it is 
you are to build, a temple for the glorious God to dwell in : and 
when the sweat is pouring from you, and your back and your 
brain are aching with work and thought, think what a sublime 
thing it is to follow this toil, when the Lord shall be pleased to 
come in His glory and fill the temple you have erected to His 
honor and for His dwelling. 



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Do not put it off. Let not selfishness, covetousness, or sloth, 
make you postpone, for if " the time is not come " it will never, 
never, never come. Your return to God, your acknowledgement 
of Jesus, your new life must begin in some " now " : Oh, for the 
sake of your peace and growth and everlasting happiness, let it 
be this " now." 

Do not say " not yet ! " The universe and eternity may catch 
your words up into a frightful echo, and when all the opportuni- 
ties shall have been lost, and you shall be pursuing peace and life, 
crying " when shall I find peace, when shall I find life ? " eternity 
and the universe may send back the doleful reply, " not yet ! not 
yet ! not yet ! " 

Turn from that painful thought ! O, turn from that idea of 
terror and contemplate one of pathos ! "While His servant has 
been uttering this discourse, the Divine Master has been standing 
here in this pulpit taking a profound interest in all that has been 
said and heard. He knows that His servants intensely desire that 
you should be saved. His own desire is infinitely greater. He 
is looking down upon you now with ineffible tenderness. His 
heart yearns for you ; He goes from pew to pew, and puts the 
mouth of Divine sweetness near the ear of your obdurate heart 
and in winning tones that seem full of tears, He pleads " not yet ? 
not yet? " That " yet," should bring before you a long and bril- 
liant history of noticed and unnoticed mercies, favors, and provi- 
dences. It should remind you that through all the years of your 
life, the Lover of your soul has been wooing you — wooing with 
Divine tendernesses, and you have resisted Him — you would not 
yield, " not yet." The " not " indicates your persistency and 
your hardness, and if you still continue hard and still persist in 
your refusals, when you pass out by yon door, you will leave the 
Saviour of mankind standing here looking after you, and in tones 
which mean more than human words can express, more of life, 
more of interest, more of concern, crying after you " not yet ! 
not yet ! " 

Turn to Him now, give joy to your ix)rd, lay your hand in 
His and say, " yes, Lord, the time has come, the time when Thou 
art to be my own and I am to be Thine forever and ever ; and 
may the time never come in this world or in the world to come, 
in which I shall again be separated from my Lord and Saviour." 



CHAPTER XXIV. 



THE WORLD. 



SERMON BY THE REV. WILLIAM S. RAINSFORD, B.A., (CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, 
ENGLAND,) ON SUNDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 24, 187G. 



" What is the world ? " 

What endless discussions and definitions meet us when we seek 
to answer this simple question, all because man ever looks 
for some statement which will allow him to retain his own 
peculiar " w T orld " while it condemns that of his neighbor. Here, 
as in all other necessary truths, the Word of God is plain enough, 
when our mind is intent on complying rather with His will than 
our own inclination. I go at once to the point. That man is living 
for the world, in whose life the influence of sin, time, and sense is 
more felt than the influence of holiness, eternity, and spirit. We 
may condense these and say, the motive power of the worldly 
man is self! Of the Christian, God ! 

H this be worldliness, how is it ingrained in the very being of 
man ! What more natural than that I should be worldly % That, 
my friends, is precisely the ground our Father takes in dealing 
with us ; it is altogether according to the dictates of nature that 
we should be most completely worldly ; not necessarily in the 
coarser form which has an attraction for coarser minds, but in the 
more dangerous, because more specious one, of self-seeking and 
self -worship. Man is bound to this world by strong cords — world- 
liness has a treble hold on him. By nature enjoying sin — I do not 
say sins, consequent — but every natural man enjoys some kind of 
sin intensely ; it may seem to him uncharitable to call it by such 
a hard name as sin at all, but all effort that has not the glory of 
God as its ultimate object, is, by Divine definition, sin. Again, 



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living in time — the short present with its thronging cares, plea- 
sures, and pains ; its constant demand on all resources of mind and 
body, must be more real than the misty future. This is cord No. 
2. The last is strongest of the three ; he is by nature in a body 
deeply affected by time, constantly appealed to by sense, its 
lusts and passions soliciting to sin, its very weariness bearing 
down the opposition of will and conscience. Surely, a man is 
and must be worldly — exactly so ; and it is only by grace he can 
ever become unworldly. Nothing short of moral miracle, impart- 
ing a new, unworldly, Divine nature can cause the transformation. 
Is there a soul here, sick of its own worldliness? Be not discouraged; 
you never knew before how deeply seated in your very nature lay 
the roots of this alienation : Again, I say be not cast down. Jesus 
has not left you by the slow toil of a lifetime to crush out the 
worldliness of your heart. You cannot give up these dear things 
till your soul has satisfied its longings with something dearer. He 
would be this to you, as really as ever stranger stood outside a 
closed door, stands Christ at thy threshold. He cannot enter as an 
intruder, He will as a guest. Give Him but one night's lodging, 
and what a change ! Sin is within still, but now strange, unutter- 
able longings after holiness are there too. The claims of time 
are still pressing, but they are now dealt with in the light of 
eternity. The flesh is none the less strong, but this last giant is 
in the presence of a stronger even than he. Friends, the man 
in whose bosom Christ dwells cannot ! cannot ! be a worldling. 
The man in whom Christ does not dwell, be he moral of life, 
upright in principle, is a worldly man, and though that worldliness 
may differ very materially from that of another, he cannot be 
anything else. 

The difficulty in a subject so large as this, is not to lose one- 
self in generalities. I wish to-night, more particularly to speak 
of the Christian's position in the world. 

First, how is he to regard it ? I do not think much good is 
gained by definitions of what is and is not the world. Some 
seem never at ease unless, as they say, they are " drawing 
the line." I don't like these "lines." I think they are opposed to 
all the principles of the gospel. Our loving Lord Jesus does not 
depend on rules and regulations, which, like strong walls, are 
drawn round His fold to keep His foolish sheep from straying, so 
much as on His own manifested presence in their midst, for 
where the Shepherd is, there the sheep would feign be. His law 
is one of "love" not "lines" I suppose some must have a 
boundary. Well, if so, I think the advice of an old saint very 
good : " If you must have your line of demarcation between what 
is of God and what is of the world, have it; but don't go near 
it, whatever you do." 



THE WORLD. 203 

I find a passage in Paul's experience which is very much to 
the point. 1 Cor., vii., 29. He had been beset by questions as to 
what was right and what wrong, and he seems to speak with a 
certain amount of diffidence; at least, so I gather from such 
expressions as " I speak by permission," "To the rest speak I, 
not the Lord," " I suppose," etc. ; but soon shaking himself free 
from these, he stands on firm ground: v. 29. "But this I say, 
brethren, the time is short ; it remaineth that both they that have 
wives be as though they had none; and they that weep as though 
they wept not; and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not; 
and they that buy as though they possessed not ; and they that use 
this world as not abusing it, for the fashion of this world passeth 
away." About various questions there may be a second opinion, 
but here there can be no mistake. This I say, then : the time is 
short ; the Greek word implies the reefing of a sail ; every moment 
the loose folds are being gathered in. Soon each life must be furled. 
Oh, Spirit of God, make us to-night to realize this truth ! The 
remorseless walls of - time are slowly closing in on us each — on 
each man, woman, child here. The unconverted, unsaved, 
worldly soul sees it — refuses to look — forgets ! Sees it again, 
and sinks in its last despair ! The Christian sees it — sees through 
the closing doors of time the vastness of eternity — buckles on his 
armor — girds his loins — lifts his head, and solemnly thanks his 
Father and God that "Time is short." But Paul ends this won- 
derful synopsis of the life of man with another figure of speeeh. 
" The fashion of this world passeth away." He borrows the term 
from the Greek drama, "Life is as a Play." One act quickly 
succeeds another, and soon all are alike past, for " The fashion of 
this world passeth away" 

Notice now their number and order. The curtain of life's 
stage rises and displays a very lovely picture. They that have 
wives. Here is a bridal, and all things seem to rejoice. "Where 
is there trace of sin or sorrow, death or pain here ? The act pro- 
ceeds. We see happy domestic life, a consecrated spot called 
home. When the day's toil is over all clouds seem to vanish, 
and deep, quiet contentment has its undisturbed reign. Bright, 
merry, loving, healthy children are there : is not now the cup of 
human happiness filled to the brim ? At last, oh, man, thou hast 
found a secure resting-place — an Eden amid the desert sands. 
Surely now thou hast found a fixed, a solid, a lasting joy ; some- 
thing worth living for. Yes thank God for such bounteous 
gifts. But pause ! you are at the end of the act; see, the curtain 
is falling, and as it slowly shrouds the quiet scene, on it can be 
traced the sentence, "The time is short, for the fashion of this 
world passeth away." Know now the meaning of the words, 
" Let those that have wives be as thoirgh they had none ; " and so 



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the Christian, as he blesses his Father for His best gift of a sweet 
home, over its threshold would see written, " The time is short" 

How different the next act. Can so dark a night succeed so 
bright a day ? They that weep. There is a tomb in the ceme- 
tary out yonder, and an empty seat round the fire at home, and 
an empty spot in more hearts than one. Bereavement has not 
come alone: losses are heavy, anxiety presses, disappointment 
ushers in disappointment; sickness strikes down the strongest, 
and the love of friends has been taxed too severely, and not 
proving equal to the strain, has grown suddenly cold. Now see 
the whilom happy man, he who had at length found a fixed, a 
lasting joy; see him now; crushed and lonely, or embittered to 
his very soul. Let the curtain fall again, and as it sinks the 
Christain looks up, and with a deep peace can say, " The time is 
short." Sorrow may endure for a night, but most certain joy 
cometh in the morning. Tears will flow. Jesus knows that, and 
would not have it otherwise. Yet while we weep we can be as 
those who weep not, as we sing, " The fashion of this world 
vasseth away." 

Again a wondrous change. They that rejoice. Clouds are 
over and gone ; time of singing of the birds has come. Hope 
revives ; business returns to its old channels ; new energy awakes 
within the man; the grass is green on the grave; others to a 
great extent fill up the empty spot. Losses are retrieved ; anxiety 
is changed to expectation, and friends crowd round once again. 
Now, cries the worldling, I will do well; I have another fair 
start. Alas, alas ! all God's dealings are in vain ; warnings once 
heeded are now forgotten; amid the clatter of earth's great high- 
way the still small voice is drowned. I speak the truth of God to 
some here. This is your position to the life. Oh, that you would 
see that the time is short! Let those that rejoice be as though 
they rejoiced not, for the fashion of this world passeth away. 

And now life is almost beyond the impressionable stage. 
Here is another act. Youth has gone; the fire of life burns 
more quietly ; blood not so hot as it once was. You cannot scare 
one worldling now as you would a schoolgirl; he knows the 
worth of things. Does he f Listen to him. I will pull down my 
barns and build greater. Ambition is now my mistress. I must 
make a name — win a fortune — found a great house. I am uni- 
versally known and respected — my name is a power in the mar- 
kets of the world. So it may be. All these things may be true; 
yet pause, oh, man, to-night; the truth of God confronts thee. 
The curtain is falling on the scene of thine ambition. For the 
time is short, and the fourth act is over. There remains but one 
more. Shall it end in ghastly tragedy? Paul does not think so. 
He agrees wi£h the psalmist, that in a worldly man's death there 



THE WORLD. 205 

are but seldom any bands. He lias used the world well, and, on 
the whole, he cannot complain of its usage of him. His friends 
say he has succeeded — that he has real goods, real fame, real 
respect. God says it is all a fashion, and that the last act has 
come. See ! see ! ! the curtain is creeping down, for the fashion 
of the world has passed away. What remains to him now of all 
that time had brought, or of the gifts God had given ? ^ What 
now can he take with him, as provision for the long realities of 
eternity ? What covering can he have for his poor naked worldly 
soul ? Nothing, you say. You are wrong. Something he must 
take — the one thing he had most willingly had left behind him 
— the sins of his life-time ; sins of negligence as well as ignorance ; 
of omission as well as commission. These now are his shroud. 
Wrap the dead soul in its sin and let it enter the presence-chamber 
of its forgotten God. 

See the child of God; he too plays his part in the closing act; 
and as it draws to an end it brings no terror to him. He has 
been mindful of the shortness of the joys and sorrows that in 
alternate bars of sunshine and shade have fallen across his life's 
pathway. Gradually he has been drinking into the spirit of Him 
who was homeless here; not that he has not enjoyed earthly 
things; he has; but as he sees sin's devastation around him, and 
feels its mighty power within him, he cries, " I am weary of my 
inward sickness ; I would fain be where they shall die no more, 
and with the company that shall continually cry, Holy, Holy, 
Holy." 

This is the Christian's position. " We look not at the things 
which are seen, but at the things which are not seen,; for the 
things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not 
seen are eternal." 

I want now for a moment or two more, to enter into particu- 
lars. "How am I always to settle these vexed questious that 
trouble so many." There are three simple tests that decide very 
clearly, I think, if we faithfully apply them. 

Let me first ask myself, Is it lawful f i. e., may I do it and 
not sin? sin not meaning a vicious act, such as the infringement 
of a law. " Thou shalt not," — not anything that could cause one 
moment's estrangement between my ever-present Saviour and 
His child. If that does not decide it, there is another. 

Is it becoming a saint f I am a separated one — or saint — a 
ISTazarite set apart for God ; bought, — body, soul and spirit, who 
never am or can be my own. May I do it and not wrong my 
saintly calling ? This is a most searching test. But there remains 
one other. And may our Lord give us all more of His own ten- 
derness here. Is it expedient f May I do it and not wrong my 
brother? Cause him to stumble or make him weak. I coufess I 



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do not think there can arise any case which will not be decided 
by these three tests from the Word of God. But if it still re- 
mains to our mind doubtful, let us give God the benefit of the 
doubt. If not, it ought to be done with both hands, for it must 
be for His glory. 

I have tried to make plain to you the difference between the 
Christian's value of life and the worldly man's, but the Lord, in 
this book of truth, tells us to take a yet higher standard with re- 
gard to temptations arising from the worldly surroundiugs of a 
Christian. He says we are to reckon ourselves dead to it, cruci- 
fied to the world. This seems folly to all but the spiritually 
taught man. I am afraid many present cannot follow me here. 
Yet I must declare all the counsel of God, so far as God teach 
me. "Crucified to the world" What can it mean ? Come to the 
cross of Christ, there alone we can learn. 

God tells me that the moment I trust Him, believe His testi- 
mony concerning that crucified Man, He looks on me as having 
hung on that cross ; I am forever united to Christ. I died there 
in His person. I was buried in His tomb. I rose with Him. 
He regards me as seated now in heavenly places with Him. 
Christ and I, in fine, are one, now and forever; there is no 
punishment for me, I have been condemned and executed in the 
person of my Lord. But how does all this affect my position in 
the world 1 In this way : I am now a complex being ; there is 
the old nature within, appealed to ever, as any other man's is, by 
the temptations of the senses. There is the new nature ; its 
source in Jesus Christ, its supply in Him. Nay, more. Jesus 
condescends to enter the narrow lodging of a sinner's heart, 
and dwell there. And Christ in me is my only hope, yet my 
certain hope of glory. His power, His kingdom within must 
daily grow and increase. I, my old self, must, by the same rea- 
soning, daily decrease. Worldliness in me is the increase of the 
old self, in opposition to every warning and appeal; nay, in the 
very presence of the indwelling Christ, who claims me as His 
ransomed temple. But how, again 1 ask, am I to prevent the in- 
crease of this worldliness ? Now here comes in God's simple, yet 
mysterious plan : " Beckon yourself to be what I hold you as," 
saith God, "See yourself as I see you" — it is entirely a matter of 
faith. u I say you died with Christ, reckon yourself to have so 
died. When sin appeals to you, answer I am dead to that appeal." 
Is that all ? JSTay, dead and alive too. " Ye are dead and your life 
is hid with Christ in God, therefore mortify (or keep as dead,) 
your members that are on the earth." — Col. iii., 3. See the 
awful list : You are called with a glorious calling, " to walk in 
neivness of life" — Bom. vi., 4. For have not " old things passed 
away and all things become new?" — 2 Cor., v., 17. And ere 






THE WORLD. 207 

we touch those old things again, oil, let us gaze on the manner of 
our release from them. Come to the cross, and read underneath 
it "crucified with Christ." For time and eternity I and that 
rejected One are indissolubly united. I am a fellow- worker witli 
Him, now on earth, soon in glory, now in shame, soon in praise. 
Let me look at this passing world as He did. Ruthless hands 
have heen laid on the Prince of Life. Hurried out of the city, 
1 they have taken Him here to die ; it's all nearly over now. They 
have crucified the Lord of Glory. The thorn has gashed His 
brow, and from the open wound the blood is trickling down. The 
cursing and blasphemy of the crowd come but indistinctly to His 
dying ear, and Jesus gazes on the lost city, and the world He 
died to save, through the mist of His own blood. Crucified to the 
world/ Oh Lord, teach us when these poor hearts of ours are 
rent and torn by fierce temptation, to remember " We are cruci- 
fied with Christ, nevertheless we live, yet not we, but Christ 
live tli in us, and the life which we now live in the flesh, we live 
by the faith of the Son of God, who loved us and gave Himself 
for us." Here is an antidote to worldliness. He loved me and 
gave Himself for me. Now I love Him and have given myself 
to Him. 

Lastly, a word to the worldly here. Your world is not so much 
around you, as within you. Well, you say: " How can I help it ? 
Here am I, a man of business, tossed in the very vortex of the 
whirlpool of life. I know I may be sucked down, forgotten, 
gone to-morrow. I can't help that. I must attend to business. 
Your standard is ridiculously high." High or low, my brother, it 
is God's standard. Ah, man, God does not want thee to give up 
thy worldliness. What ! you say, " That is what you have been 
driving at all night." No, no; not that you should give up 
worldliness but that you should receive Christ. That you should 
close with His present offer and take Him as your all. Why not ? 
and conscience cries why not ? u I would, indeed, but " — ah ! I 
have got it, that but is your world, a real, mighty, impassable 
barrier to your soul's salvation. My time is gone. I must close. 
But I close with the lines of one who was worldly ; nature and edu- 
cation had richly endowed him, but he found no rest for the sole 
of his way-worn feet till with Him who carrieth the lambs in His 
arms. 

I was wandering and weary, 

When my Saviour came unto me; 
For the ways of sin grew dreary, 

And the world had ceased to woo me ; 
And I thought I heard Him say, 

As He came along His way, 
O silly souls ! come near me, 
My sheep need never fear me, 

I am the Shepherd true. 



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And put off till the morrow ; 
Bat life began to darken, 

And I was sick with sorrow. 
And I thought I heard Him say, 

As He came along His way, 
Oh sinful souls! come near me, 
My sheep need never fear me ; 

I am the Shepherd true. 

He took me on His shoulder, 

And tenderly He kissed me, 
He bade my love grow bolder, 

And He said how He had missed me. 
And I'm sure I heard Him say, 

As He went along His way, 
Oh sinful souls ! come near me, 
My sheep need never fear me, 

I am the Shepherd true. 

I thought His love would weaken, 

As more and more He knew me, 
But it burnetii like a beacon, 

And its light and heat go through me. 
And I ever hear Him say, 

As He goes along His way, 
Oh sinful souls ! come near me, 
My sheep need never fear Me, 

I am the Shepherd true. 



CHAPTER, XXV. 



LOVE TO JESUS 



FAREWELL SERMON BY THE REV. WrLLIAM S. RAINSFORD, B.A., ON 
SUNDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 8, 1876. 



"The fruit of the spirit is love." — Galatians v. 22. 

As 1 have a great deal to say to-night, I will go to the point 
directly. What is the meaning of those few words ? What does 
the Holy Ghost intend us plainly to gather from them ? 

What is fruit ? We all know that fruit is the product of live. 
You cannot have fruit without life. What am I taught here? 
That the Spirit of God begets the fruit of love ; that when the 
Holy Spirit enters and takes up His eternal abode in the heart of 
a man, that presence is marvellously soon manifested, and I find in 
the Word of Truth, that the first manifestation of His presence 
in the sinner's heart is this-^love ! " The fruit of the spirit is 
love." 

We have considered on other Sunday evenings together, dear 
friends, this all-important subject of God's entrance into the sin- 
ner's heart, and to-night, I desire, by my Father's help, to deal 
with this verse in one of the most important ways in which I 
believe God intended us to use it. I desire to apply it as a test 
to my own profession, and I pray that it may be applied, by God 
the Holy Ghost, as a test to yours. Here is a statement made by 
God. He says : Given that the Holy Ghost has taken up His 
abode in the sinner's heart, that in-dwelling presence is speedily 
manifested to the world by love. Does He find this fruit in our 
lives to-night ? This question stares us plainly in the face, for as 
truly as the Spirit of God takes up His abode in my heart, love 
is the consequent of His abiding. Have I got that love ? If I 



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have the Spirit of God, I certainly have. If I have not the 
Spirit of God, I as certainly have not. What is this love ? 
I feel myself standing here, to-night, like a man standing 
on the brink cf a great depth. I cannot pretend with any human 
plummet to sound it. My poor eye cannot essay for a moment to 
gaze across its abyss. 

What is this love ? Whence comes it ? What creates it ? 
First of all it is a love of attraction. When Jesus Christ takes up 
His abode in a sinner's heart, that soul is drawn out to God in a 
manner unintelligible to the w r orld, and almost unintelligible to 
the heart itself. I cannot tell how it comes that one day men are 
callous to God's appeal and careless of God's love, and the next 
all the longings and emotions of the heart are drawn out towards 
Himself. I cannot tell how it is, but I know that this love is a 
love of attraction. It is a love that, in spite of a man, draws him 
out of himself towards God. So I must look away from the love 
itself, to its object, to find an answer. 

See a little plant, as the spring comes on, and the sun shines 
brightly on it, a marvelous change taking place in its tiny exist- 
ence. The plant sends up its little tendrils towards the sun; and, 
drawn away from earth by that mysterious power outside itself, 
it resists and overcomes the mighty law which would drag it 
down, and unconsciously it is drawn upward. 

Just so is it with the sinner's soul. When I see the Father's 
glory first of all shining through the rays of Christ Jesus, my soul 
is drawn upward by that light. Just as the sun makes himself 
felt in his life-giving and life-sustaining ray, so God makes Himself 
felt by His manifestation of Himself through Jesus. The rays 
of the sun tell us of the sun, and God speaks to us of Himself 
through Jesus Christ. He is, as it were, the ray which God sends 
from His own fulness to gladden our poor hearts, and draw them 
out to Him. I cannot explain why the plant is drawn up, but I 
know it is drawn ; and the sun's ray does it ; neither can I, Iioav 
the sinful heart is drawn ; all I know is, it is drawn, and Jesus 
does it. 

It is a love of attraction that possesses and moulds the 
man in whom the Spirit dwells. I know nothing of the magnet. 
What mysteries hang about that small, that seemingly insignifi- 
cant toy ! There is a particular spot of light shining in the 
heavens to-night, and towards that star, millions of miles away, 
that tiny needle ever points. Yoa cannot make it untrue to the 
object of its attraction. Thousands of years have passed, but the 
needle is pointing still. On sea and land, amid storm and calm, 
safety and danger, 'tis all the same to it. For untold ages that 
star, across the mighty gap of space, has held it true to itself, nor 
lias the lapse of time impaired its power. Just so the heart points 



LOVE TO JEStlS. 2ll 

to Jesus. Where the spirit of God has entered that attraction 
lias begun, and not all the diverting powers of earth or hell, or 
flesh or devil can divert that soul that has found its attraction in 
Jesus. Oh, yes ; it is a love of attraction is this love. When 
this poor body is laid aside, and when we break loose from these 
shackles that now so closely bind us down ; when earth's cords are 
all snapped, then, as fast as the immortal spirit can wing its flight, 
we will away to Christ. That is the difference between the 
Christian and the unconverted man. He wants to be with Christ. 
That is his heaven. Ask what is heaven ! I do not know what 
heaven is. I cannot tell. One thing I do know, it is to be with 
Christ ; and in all God's great expanse of universe there does not 
exist one single thing that could take His place. Aye, it is a love 
which draws all the fibres of the soul right out to the person of 
Jesus, round Him they twine, towards Him they reach with an 
attraction that ever-deepens, that ever-strengthens, that ever- 
broadens in its extent, until at last, we gaze, no longer through 
the glass darkly, but see Him, face to face. 

Then again, it is a personal love. Let me say a word about 
this. It is not only a love for Christ's doctrine. It is not only a 
love for God's truth, but it is a personal love. A very eminent 
saint has beautifully said, " Jesus Christ's doctrines are, as it 
were, His garments, white and lustrous; they smell of myrrh, 
and aloes and cassia; Jesus Christ's precepts are His sceptre, and 
needy sinners may draw near and touch its gracious tip ; Jesus 
Christ's ordinances are His glorious throne overlaid with pure 
gold." But sw^eeter than His garments, more mighty than His 
sceptre, more glorious than His glorious gospel, is Himself. 
Yea, He is altogether lovely ; and love for Him is the very heart 
and core of all true religion. It is a personal love, — love to the 
one Being in whom is centred all the longings of the heart. It 
is a personal love, dear friends, and now, when God comes to you 
to-night, and puts the question, " Lo vest thou Me ? " When God 
stops to-night, to make a statement, " That love to Me can only 
be the fruit of My Spirit," I w r ant you to notice the quality of 
that love. It is a love which is begotten of the attraction which 
Jesus Christ has over the soul that has gazed on His beauty, 
and it is a love which centres itself on Jesus Christ Himself. 

But I must pass on. I find the word of God distinctly stat- 
ing that this fruit is a necessary fruit. It is absolutely necessary. 
As I read in the chapter to-night, having all things, if we possess 
it not, we fall infinitely short of God's demands. I remark first, 
it is necessary for a church. You may have a great and gorge- 
ous edifice, a man of mighty intellect, of great diversity of 
powers and divers gifts as your pastor ; you may have your seats 
filled with all the wealth and fashion and intellect of a great city ; 



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you may have a great reputation, and a name which resounds all 
over the land ; you may have great organizations and great rami- 
fications for work and usefulness, but if you have not got love, 
your church is like a lamp without oil, like a harness without a 
horse. I find Jesus Christ speaking solemnly on this question. 
When standing on the Isle of Patmos, He bade John to go speak 
to the church of Ephesus and tell them that they have forgotten 
their first love : " Tell them that labor and patience — labor that 
has toiled, patience that has not faltered — have not saved them 
from a fall, cannot save them from extinction itself : nor prevent 
the candle-stick from being removed out of its place." 

Where is the church of Ephesus now ? Paul her founder, 
John himself her pastor. She is gone. Her candle-stick removed 
forever, her light quenched and darkness now reigns where light 
once shone. Churches want this love to run through them like 
veins of fire to light up cold hearts, to melt icy hearts, to cheer 
faint hearts and guide wandering hearts. But I must come right 
down to individuals, for after all, that is the important part of my 
subject to night. I must have this individual love for Christ. 
Why is this "must" attached to it by God? Let me point out to 
you how this love comes. This explains God's must. Is it the 
fruit of knowledge ? If this love were the fruit of knowledge, 
God would not make its possession a sine qua non, because every 
man has not got knowledge. Is this love the fruit of gifts ? 
Not so, because if it were, God would not demand it of every 
man, because every man has not received gifts. Some of us have 
very little knowledge and still less gifts, but mark you, the fruit 
of the spirit is love. It is the operation of God's own Spirit, and 
therefore He demands it in every single case. Hast thou love ? 
Not, hast thou knowledge ? not, hast thou gifts ? but, hast thou 
love ? I tell you, my friends, this love has existed in the darkest 
corners of the earth. There have been men shrouded in ignor- 
ance and covered up with bigotry, and yet they have possessed 
this love. There have been men who knew very little about the 
doctrines of the Christian religion and yet have possessed this 
love. Show me a man who hates sin for sin's sake, who longs 
to be like Christ for Christ's sake, who longs for Christ's kingdom 
to come, and though he may not have knowledge, though he may 
not have gifts, yet he has something far better than either. I 
don't care how dark he otherwise may be, I don't care how fault- 
ful his definition of doctrine may be, if he possesses this love it 
is a proof that the Spirit of God dwelleth in him. It is the fruit 
of God's own Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love. For He 
has entered that lowly lodging place there to abide for ever. I 
will tell you one place where He does not exist, one spot where 
never yet has burned the holy flame. It never yet was found in 



LOVE TO JESUS. 213 

the cold, calculating, self-satisfied heart of the worldly man, and 
it never will be. 

I must press the question yet more closely home, if you will 
bear with me for a moment. I desire to-night that speaker and 
congregation may all sink before God to one common level, and 
let us turn aside and pause while we give an answer to the ques- 
tion that He puts to us. Jesus Christ Himself pauses in the 
midst of this crowded assembly to-night, and He asks me, He asks 
you, my brethren, who have worked here this summer, He asks 
professing Christians here, He asks one and all, "Lovest thou Me?" 
I hear somebody say, " Of course I do ; of course I love Jesus 
Christ." Mark you this : The first thing the Spirit of God does 
when He enters a man's heart is to teach him that there is no 
"of course" about it; that this personal love to Jesus is altogether 
opposed to the course that his heart has hitherto run. Whenever 
I hear a man say " of course," I begin to think he is a long way 
from God yet. He has got to be taught that the course that this 
world runs is opposed to the will of God ; that the flow of life's 
current has to be turned right around ; and then it will be " of 
course," because it is the Spirit's work, and not his. There is no 
" of course" about it. Oh, but you say, " I am a professor ; I love 
Jesus ; I have professed religion for many years." Now I want 
you to notice this : these words are addressed to professors. 
These men and these women were professors of the highest stamp. 
Which of us could place ourselves alongside of them to-night ? 
They spoke with tongues. There is profession for you. They 
spoke by prophecy. They had wrought many marvellous works. 
They had cast out devils. They had performed great cures. Though 
they were men of miracles and gifts — though they had been 
brought up under the training of the apostles — though the Spirit 
of God had in cloven tongues of fire flamed in the midst of their 
assemblies, yet none of these gifts in the past and none of these 
gifts in the present hindered the question being solemnly put to 
each, "Lovest thou Me ?" 

My opinion of myself to-night — your opinion of yourself, may 
prevent our putting to our own souls this awful and solemn ques- 
tion. Your gift to-night — your life — my gifts and my life, may 
prevent others putting the question to us ; but no single fact in 
our experience, past or present, nor any single event which can 
possibly happen to you or me in this short day of time or in the 
great eternity, can prevent Jesus Christ putting this question 
right home to each one of our souls. You may shirk it to-night, 
but the day will come when the walls of God's providence, hav- 
ing fast closed around you, you will stand face to face before the 
great white throne, and that question shall be thy deciding point 
for all eternity, "Lovest thou Me?" Oh, may God make you 



214 UNDER CANVAS. 

answer that question honestly to-night. He does not ask, "Lovest 
thou thy prayers ? " He does not ask me if I love my Bible ; He 
does not ask me if I love my church ; He does not ask me if I 
love my creed ; He does not ask me if I love the Holy Commun- 
ion ; He does not ask me if I love my minister. Men have loved 
their church, their creed, their minister, their prayers ; yet one 
thing they have lacked, and they have passed into the great be- 
yond without God, or peace, or rest, or hope — bankrupt forever. 
They could not answer the question, "Lovest thou Me?" I see 
before me to-night men standing on the brink of eternity ; I see 
before me those who are deceiving themselves ; I see as I speak 
a great cloud of opposition rising up from the hearts of men, 
while the Spirit of God puts the question to each one of you, 
" Lovest thou Me ?" You won't be cornered in that way. " But," 
says some one, "I am a communicant." I am glad to hear it; 
but Judas was a communicant. The Bible places before you some 
relics of wrecks on this awful shoal of self-deception. God has 
allowed them to float down the stream of time, and has bouyed 
them with the word " wreck," to be a warning to every mariner 
for all time. But you say, " I am a worker." My friend, God 
bids thee to-night to leave thy work. "I am a district visitor." 
Come away from your district. "I am a tract distributer." 
Come away from your tenement house ; come aside. " I am a 
tent worker." Man, stand before God to-night. Let go your 
work. Come aside for one moment from all the things in which 
you are eugaged — away from the whirr and whirl of Christian 
machinery. Jesus Christ wants to ask you a question ; come, ye 
yourselves, apart; let each man kneel in the presence of His Lord. 
Jesus Christ demands an answer. " After all thy Bible classes 
taught ; after all thy work done ; after all thy tracts distributed ; 
after all thy activity, I want to know, honestly and truly, " Lov- 
est thou Me f" and as I stand among you to-night, for the last 
time, I know well that the covert opposition of some hearts is 
resisting that question of the great God. Oh, man, do not resist 
God ! He would break down thy opposition. Yield to His voice 
to night when He asks thee the question, " Lovest thou Me?" Thou 
art brought face to face with His truth to-night. God is now whis- 
pering to thy conscience. Listen to Him. Shirk not the truth. 
Seek not to wash thy soul in the waters of forgetfulness. God 
speaks to thee now. Give him an honest answer, I beseech you. 
There is one portion of God's word that I ask you to read with 
me. It is the beginning of the thirteenth chapter of the first 
epistle to the Corinthians. Paul says, in dealing with this ques- 
tion, " Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, 
and have not love, I am become as sounding brass and a tinkling 
cymbal." Then there is a day coming when speech shall no 



LOVE TO JESUS. Zl5 

longer form a cloud behind which I can retreat. There is a day 
coming when to say, " I believe, I love, I know," will not be 
enough. There are men now so like the real thing that no man 
can pierce through their well-arranged disguises. I cannot see 
through them ; their friends cannot see through them ; their min- 
ister cannot see through them ; the world cannot see through 
them ; but, mark you ! there is a day coming when the finger of 
death shall sound that man, and death will say, " Hollow as sound- 
ing brass." The finger of the Judge will sound that soul and He 
will say, "Hollow as sounding brass," and that is all; and Jesus 
Christ will say, " Hollow ; here is an empty house ; I wanted to 
enter; I longed to enter; I knocked that I might enter; the 
house is swept ; the house is garnished; it is empty." "I am 
become," says the distracted soul, " after all my opportunities 
passed, after all my professions, but sounding brass : only empty 
after all ; nothing but sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal." 
Then look at the next verse: "Though I have the gift of 
prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge." 
Here is a man that has all knowlodge ; he has all gifts ; he knows 
this book from cover to cover ; he can entrance audiences and 
sway men backwards and forwards as reeds rocked by the wind ; 
but now he stands before God with all knowledge, and under- 
standing all mysteries, but it is not enough. There is no love 
there. And the apostle says further of others : " Though I have all 
faith, so that I could remove mountains." "What," says the 
soul, " can I have faith and be lost ?" You can. You may have 
all faith, so great that the mountains will bend at your bidding, 
and topple into the deep sea, and yet not have love. Faith that 
is begotten of the Spirit of God works by love ; and if there is 
no love, faith is but an empty husk. That is God's word, and I 
dare not alter a syllable. "All faith, so that I could remove 
mountains, and have not love, I am nothing." Oh, soul, trusting 
to thy faith or thy conversion instead of thine own Lord, let this 
test thee. Then the apostle says further : " Though I bestow 
all my goods to feed the poor." Here is self-denial for you. He 
does not give a stray dollar now and then, and not miss it, but he 
gives all his goods to feed the poor. His pockets are turned 
inside out. He listens to every cry of distress, and relieves ; yet, 
though he does all these things and have not love, — What does 
the book say ? — " It profiteth him nothing." 

Then we may have zeal. My friends, follow me closely here. 
Zeal ! Though my zeal be of so fiery a sort that I give my body 
to be burned. I confess to my God that I want heart-searching 
here. I confess that there is a great deal of self in our zeal. I 
speak for myself, my friends, as well as for you. There is a great 
deal of wanting to be first. There is a great deal of wanting to 



216 UNDER CANVAS. 

cut a big figure before the world. I suppose there is as great a 
temptation on the part of the Christian to be a great Christian, as 
there is on the part of the worldling to be a great worldling. God 
deliver you and me from them both. Though we have all zeal, 
— though it carry us to the stake, yet, when I stand before God, 
it will not pass me into His presence if I have not love. These 
are not my words. They are the words that are written in this 
Book. Jesus is coming to seek fruit, and the fruit of the Spirit is 
love. He comes to you and to me, to-night, and He says, " I 
have come to thee seeking fruit ; you promised Me fruit, and you 
have failed to give it Me ; I cannot wait any longer." Oh, sin- 
ners, what fruit have you for Jesus to-night ? Young man, young 
woman, what fruit have you for Jesus to-night ? You have been 
listening to the Word of God ; what fruit have you for Jesus ? 
Think not that I speak simply under excitement, I speak under the 
realities of a great eternity to come. Not all your gifts, your 
culture, your knowledge, your zeal, are worth one poor straw 
with Jesus Christ, if you have no fruit of love. What answer will 
you give Him to-night ? Speak, soul. You say, "I have got fruit 
for Thee, Lord. I have got prayer. Lord, thou knowest I have 
prayed night after night." " Oh, soul, you must step back ; I 
didn't ask for your prayers ; I didn't ask these of thee. I want 
to know hast thou got love. I don't ask thee for thy knowledge, 
I ask thee for thy love. I know thee not." " But, Lord, I have 
the fruit of faith." " Stand back. I ask thee not of thy faith 
to-night. I ask of thy love. I know thee not." " I have self- 
denial." Is that true ? We say it often ; but I ask myself to- 
night, and I ask you, is that true ? What have you denied your- 
self for Jesus ? I ask my brother-workers here, what have you 
denied yourself for Jesus ? " But I question not of self-denial 
now. Love is the fruit of the Spirit ; thou hast none of this love. 
I came to seek love. Soul, I bid ' thee depart ; for I know thee 
not." Oh, my friends, what fruit, I ask again, does Jesus Christ 
find in you to-night % If you have never listened to the Word 
before, oh, let me beseech you to listen to it now. I don't want 
you to think that that love is the result of a long-sustained effort 
of the soul. I don't want you to go away imagining that you 
have got to begin trying to love Jesus. It is not so. It is love 
which springs spontaneously from the breast that knows that 
throughout all the cycles of eternity the loving God has been 
engaged in providing salvation for him. I tell you it is just drawn 
out by the shining of God's love in the face of Jesus Christ. To 
each of us He puts the question to-night, " Lovest thou Me ? I 
have found other fruit, but I have not found this ! " I fear me 
that of some of you now, God is taking leave. I fear me that 
some people here are now for the last time feeling the prick of 



LOVE TO JESUS. 217 

conscience. They are choking the voice of God. Now saith the 
Spirit, " [ leave thee. 1 leave thee to thy rest. Thou shalt have 
peace now." Oh, the peace of a seared conscience, the peace of 
a heart twice dead, — the peace of the lost soul ! Surely, there are 
some that can say, " Stop, Lord ; Lord, thou knowest all things. 
I stand under Thine eye. My love is not what I fain would have 
it; it is cold and fickle; it is passing and changeful; but Lord, 
Thou knowest all things, and Thou knowest I love Thee." Blessed 
be God, I know some who can say that, to-night. May God 
increase the numbers. My friends, I think of the time, as I now 
take my leave of this platform, when all things within us and 
without us that oppose this love of Christ shall be swept away, 
even as impetuous Kishen swept down the host of Sisera, and I 
pray, my God, to hasten the time. I think of the prayer the 
inspired prophetess uttered as she gazed on that wreck, and from 
my soul I pray it to-night. " So let all thine enemies perish, oh, 
God ; but let those that love thee be as the sun when he goeth 
forth in his might." May God answer that prayer for each one 
of you for Jesus Christ's sake, that you may see the sun grow- 
ing brighter and brighter, and the veil that hides you from your 
God growing thinner and thinner, and no changeful shadows 
passing over your life, until at last you are just engulfed in the 
love, that through all the years here has drawn you up and up to 
itself. May God grant it, for Christ's sake. 






CHAPTER XXVI. 



GREAT GLADNESS AND JOY. 



THE CLOSING HOUES OF THE TENT SERVICES— SERMON BY THE REV. 
STEPHEN H. TYNG, JR., D.D., ON SUNDAY, OCT. 15, 1876. 



" Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over 
all the power of the enemy : and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Not- 
withstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you ; but rather 
rejoice, because your names are written in heaven." 

These words were spoken by the Lord Jesus Christ to the 
seventy disciples whom He sent out to work miracles and to 
preach. We read that they returned to Him with joy, saying : 
" Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through Thy name," 
and the blessed Saviour gave that Divine answer which appeals 
to-day with such force to the heart of every true believer. The 
days of miracle-working are over, but, thanks be to God, not of 
joy. Christianity would indeed be but a sorrowful profession 
were it robbed of its hours of rejoicing and gladsomeness. But 
it never will or can be so shorn. Every child of God has a joy 
and gladness, peculiarly fitted to the individual need of his or her 
soul, but throughout the wide world, all Christians have common 
ground for a " peace that passeth understanding," and the words 
of Jesus give expression to it : " Rejoice, because your names 
are written in heaven." 



GREAT GLADNESS AND JOY. 219 

Yet, the Christian religion is by no means a selfish one. It 
has its special seasons of great gladness and joy, and always when 
a good work for the Lord has been accomplished, and His name 
honored and glorified. On Sunday, October 15th, 1876, such a 
season had come round in the history of the New York Gospel 
Tent, and the gladness was great and the joy self-evident. Do 
you inquire whether there was cause for it ? Go and ask any one 
or all of the six hundred persons who date their conversion to 
God, from some period between the 11th of June and the 15th of 
October, the opening and closing days of the tent services ; or go 
and ask the clergymen whom the Lord privileged to. proclaim His 
Word with saving power, under the shelter of the canvas taber- 
nacle, or the Christian workers who faithfully labored during the 
hot summer months with the anxious souls who flocked into the 
inquiry room, and to whom they had the joy of unfolding the 
unspeakable riches of the gospel. Yes, there was indeed cause 
for both gladness and joy, and whilst those who had taken part in 
the work, and those who had become reconciled to a loving 
Father through it, met together to give expression to their feelings, 
the honor and glory was accorded to Him to whom it alone of 
right belonged. 

For eighteen complete weeks had the revival under canvas 
been carried on, and Sunday, the 15th of October, was appointed 
for the closing service. The day proved one of intense cold, 
quite unexpected in its severity, and it was deemed advisable to 
transfer the meeting to the Church of the Holy Trinity, which 
was crowded to suffocation. The programme gave three hours 
continual service, and the first hour was devoted to the singing 
of several hymns of praise, and a sermon by the Rev. C. C. Tif- 
fany, of the Church of the Atonement, who chose for his text 
Matthew xi., 29. " Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, 
for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find rest unto 
your souls." He said the common object of all denominations 
was, or ought to be, to bring the people to Christ, and the glory 
of the gospel consisted in the fact that it takes hold of people 
just as they are. True liberty was only to be found in Jesus, and 
He invited His ransomed creatures to learn of Him and find rest 
to their souls. If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free 
indeed. Modesty without and virtue within were the true attri- 
butes of the child of God. 

The second hour's service was devoted to prayer, and a sermon 
by the Rev. Stephen H. Tyng, jr., D.D., appropriate to the occa- 
sion, which was as follows, and to which we call the reader's 
special attention : — : 



220 UNDER CANVAS. 

FINAL SERMON IN CONNECTION WITH THE GOSPEL TENT REVIVAL, 
BY THE REV. STEPHEN H. TYNG, JR., D.D. 



" There was very great gladness." — Nehemiah viii., 17. 
The context gives us the first instance of street preaching con- 
tained in the Word of God. The children of Israel had returned 
from their long captivity in Babylon and in jDart completed the 
reconstruction of the city of Jerusalem. Ezra was their priest 
and preacher. In this chapter of Xehemiah we have a sketch of 
his efforts among the people, and of the incidents connected with 
his peculiar ministry, all of which, I think, we shall find to be a 
close parallel of the history of our " Gospel Tent," and the work 
in which, during the past summer, we have been engaged. The 
conclusion of Ezra's street preaching and of our work under can- 
vas, is the same. This text is its expression : " There was very 
great gladness." If you will look at the connected passage, you will 
find that a pulpit of wood was constructed in the street of Jeru- 
salem, on which Ezra stood. On his right hand and on his left 
were gathered his helpers in the work, the Levites to lead the 
songs, and those who aided him in the extension and the applica- 
tion of the Word. Besides these, in the seventh verse of this 
chapter, it is recorded where " Jeshua, Bani and Sherebiah " and 
a number of others who caused the people to understand the law, 
and in private more fully developed the teaching which Ezra gave 
in public. The character of the preaching is equally determined. 
He read from the book of the law and made the people under- 
stand the reading because he gave the sense of the several pass- 
ages. All this teaching in the street resulted in the renewal of 
an old custom, which had fallen into disuse, among Israel ; for 
" since the day of Joshua, the son of ISTun," the people had not cele- 
brated the feast of the tabernacles. When Ezra expounded the 
law he came suddenly upon the passage enjoining the observance 
of this festival, and so it is written, " The people went forth and 
brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the 
roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the 
house of God, and in the street of the water gate, and in the 
street of the gate of Ephriam. And all the congregation of 
them that were come again out of the captivity made booths and 
sat under the booths." Thus the feast of the tabernacles, which 
was to many of the unbelieving Jews a novelty, was restored in 
its primitive usage. All through this feast, day by day, from the 
first day until the last, Ezra read in the book of the law of 
God, and the result of the reading, the teaching and the com- 
munion was that " there was very great gladness." This merri- 
ment, this holy joy, culminated on the eighth day in "a solemn 



(IKKAT GLADNESS AND JOY. 221 

assembly according unto the manner" of the early people of God. 
My dear friends, thus, for eighteen weeks, have we observed 
the Feast of the Tabernacle. In each feature of this history I 
find a suggestion of our own work ; and, indeed, if we had no 
other warrant for the peculiar office in which we have been en- 
gaged, Ezra's example would be enough. For we have made the 
people understand the sense of the Book of God. We have been 
surrounded by Levites to lead the songs. We have been support- 
ed by those who have been most eager in the private application 
of the truth. We have held our long feast imder the canvas, 
and now we come to the solemn assembly at its close. As of old 
time, so is it now, " there is very great gladness." 

Let us consider, without further introduction, the suggestions 
of this text which are pertinent to our present circumstances, and 
seek : 

I. First of all, to justify this gladness. Has it a warrant ? 
Have we reasons to be glad ? or ought we to be despondent and 
doubtful and self -reproachful ? Christian joy is always its own 
justification. It needs no apologies; for, in both its in- 
spiration and its influence, it bespeaks its Divine origin and its 
adaptation to the good of men, as well as the glory of God. I 
think it is Dr. Bushnell who, in one of his sermons, makes the 
distinction between happiness and joy, which has since prevailed 
through very much religious writing. Happiness comes from the 
things that happen. It is an external addition to our condition. 
It depends upon the happening — upon the hap — the lot. The 
very w T ord which in the Latin expresses joy, equally defines it. Ex- 
ultation is something that leaps forth. It must be within before it 
can be without. It is not to be taken by contagion ; it must be 
implanted by Divine power. When, therefore, a Christian is 
truly joyous we are taught by God's word that He has the fruit 
of the Spirit. He has learned to enter into the thoughts of God, 
and whilst on earth, to have some of the experience which shall 
be his in its perfectness when he enters into rest. If then, we 
say that these believing people of God have very great gladness, 
we only testify about them that which is their natural tendency if 
they know the Lord, their common emotion if they have tasted 
that the Lord is gracious and precious. But how know we that 
this gladness is of the right sort % How can we justify it before 
the Word of God ? 

The glad tidings of the Word are the source of this gladness. 
These have been the spring of all our enthusiasm, for I bear you 
witness that the Word of God in the gospel of grace, has been 
freely, fully and faithfully preached all through these weeks to 
the thousands and tens of thousands of different persons who 
have worshiped beneath the tent. We lifted our banner with the 



222 UNDER CANVAS. 

inscription of " The Gospel Tent," and to-day, while we lower the 
banner we read with new pride and delight the title we gave it at 
the first. It is " The Gospel Tent," the tent of the Glad Tid- 
ings, for that is the meaning of gospel. Beneath the folds of 
that flag we have preached salvation through the blood of the 
crucified One. We have told the many who have come to hear 
us that they are saved on the moment of their trust in the cross 
of Christ. Saved! yes, freely, fully, finally saved. 

The substance of the gospel, which has thus resulted in glad- 
ness, is salvation in Christ, His obedience meeting our defects, 
His death expiating our crimes, His intercession opening heaven 
to our hope, and providing a fulness of support in times of weak- 
ness, of merit in days of shortcoming, and sympathy in hours of 
affliction. So that he who accounts himself as God counts him, 
"in Christ," has passed from death and entered into immortality, 
and sits in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, while he walks in 
obedience with Christ on earth. Saved ? Yes ; saved by Christ. 
Dear friends, what was it that restrained you in the moment of 
your first confession of Christ, from returning to the old sin ? 
Whas has it been all through these years of constant conflict with 
the evil within you, with temptations which have seduced you? 
What is it that has inspired you to effort ? What has given that 
motive and strength to resist the spiritual foes that have assailed 
you ? Only Christ ; who is able to make us stand, who is able to 
keep us from falling, who is able to build us up. It is not enough 
to be saved in Christ, the believer is saved by Christ. It is 
equally true that we are saved for Christ. The end of our salva- 
tion is not our own enjoyment; nor yet is it the influence that we 
shall exert over the world. The glory of Him who hath 
called us out of darkness into His marvelous light, is the final 
cause of our security. We are placed here as witnesses to the 
glory of God our Saviour, to make men know that there is One 
who, all-powerful, is able to pluck us as brands from the burning, 
and employ us as torches in the darkness of the world. And so 
we look up to that loving face of Jesus, and say, " Not only saved 
in Christ, and by Christ, but saved for Christ." Nor yet have we 
finished the recital, for we are saved unto Christ. Each believer 
is looking forward to that day when the promise shall be fulfilled : 
"I go to prepare a place for you ; I will come again and receive 
you unto Myself." Whether the Lord shall come to us in death 
as an angel clothed with a cloud, having a rainbow about His 
head, or whether we shall be one of that generation who shall 
receive the fulfilment of " that blessed hope " as we are caught 
up into the clouds with His risen saints, we do not know. What- 
ever be the mode of His appearance to accomplish His purpose, of 
this we are assured, for He has said it, we shall be saved unto the 



ORE AT GLADNESS AND JOY. 223 

coming of Christ. So the past is provided for in the completed 
work of Christ ; so the present is covered by the maintenance of 
His high priestly office on high, and the agencies of His Word and 
His Spirit, as well as His work among men. And so the future 
is cared for by the forethought and unsearchable stores of grace 
that He ministers to needy sinners. These are the glad tidings. 
We have preached them, we have received them, and have rejoiced 
in them. Well might the angels tell the story; for, wherever the 
gospel has gone, joy has followed in the testimonies of all who 
have received and recognized its beauty and its power. These 
are the sources of this very great gladness. If I should go around 
among those who have been converted and ask, " Why do you 
rejoice?" I am confident the response in unison would be "We 
rejoice in the reconciliation ; we joy in the Lord, our complete 
Saviour." 

But again, in the justification of this joy, we have the testi- 
mony of believers. This is the reflection of the glad tidings as they 
are received and become a power in human living. Do you 
recall that perfect parable of the prodigal son. It was our lesson 
in this morning's service. Did you note when we read it, that 
after the prodigal was restored to his home, it is said " they began 
to be merry ? " In the reception of the one that was lost, in the 
restoration of the one that was dead, they found a cause of glad- 
ness. The father rejoiced, and wondered that the surly elder 
brother could not appreciate the secret of all the mirth that was 
within the home. And so, as each new soul comes within the 
embrace of these glad tidings, and catches some of the glory-light 
that comes from the face of the reconciling Saviour, we have 
found a new explanation of our great gladness in the testimony 
we have received to the gospel. This has been our daily experi- 
ence. Blessed be God, there has not been one evening without a 
birth into the family of God. All the brethren who have been 
engaged, working and watching for souls, have been made most 
eager in their gladness by those who have been given to them 
through the grace of the Spirit, as the seals of their ministry. 
One such soul submitting to Jesus, entering into the fulness of 
His favor, learning of Him and trusting in His promises, is enough 
in its testimony of thankfulness to cause great gladness throughout 
the body of those who believe in the Lord. We have an apostolic 
warrant for this joy in the first epistle to the Thessalonians, the 
second chapter, and the nineteenth and twentieth verses. " For 
what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing ? Are not even ye 
in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming ? For ye 
are our glory and joy." And as I look down into the faces of the 
dear friends, to-night, who have been brought into a knowledge of 
Jesus Christ through the ministry of this Gospel Tent, my own 



224 UNDER CANVAS. 

gladness mingles with theirs', and is returned to me with a new 
experience of the preciousness of our common portion. A 
fountain is opened in every new believer's soul, not only for his 
own refreshment, but at which those who have been permitted to 
teach him the truth are themselves refreshed in turn. And what 
a number lias the Lord God given us as spiritual children in this 
ministry of grace. Those who have kept a list of the persons who 
have professed themselves to be enquirers, and who have been 
supposed to come into a knowledge of the truth, tell me that more 
than six hundred have enrolled themselves as the new children 
and followers of the Father and the Saviour since we began 
this work. If each one of you new converts be a true believer, 
casting aside all the things that contest the supremacy of Christ, 
your all-sufficient Saviour, then have we six hundred strings 
to sweep as of an instrument on which we seek to manifest the 
very great gladness in which all the people of God find new com- 
fort and encouragement in their work. But, dear young Christians, 
let me say this word to you, since I have found in your testimony 
a justification of the joy of these workers, " Stand ye fast in the 
Lord." This was the very emphasis of the apostle, and the explana- 
tion of his highest joy when he wrote in the third chapter of first 
Thessalonians, at the eighth verse, " For now we live, if ye 
stand fast in the Lord." The whole credit of this work, as of 
God, will depend upon the steadfastness, the devotion, the conse- 
cration, the zeal of those, who, through the teaching beneath the 
canvas, have come into the knowledge of the truth. There are 
carpers and cavillers and critics all about, who are watching for 
the lame and the weak ; but be ye steadfast in searching the 
truth, that ye may grow in the knowledge of the glad tidings. 
Be ye steadfast in following the leading of your Lord. Submit 
to His will as you feed upon His Word. The whole reputation 
among men of this work of our summer, now ending, must rest 
upon the calmness, the steadiness, the steadfastness of those who 
through it have been converted to God. 

David, in his psalms, says every now and then, " Selah," 
" Selah." -The heart of a believer is like a harp which is un- 
strung. Only the hand of the Son of David can sweep its wires 
and bring out the fullest melody of joy. And so the Spirit of 
God constantly suggests to us still higher causes of thankfulness. 
As the psalmist himself says, so say I to you, "Selah." Take 
the highest note not simply of your reception of the glad tidings ; 
not added to this the testimony of those who have been brought 
to the knowledge of the truth, but in the joy of angels, in the 
satisfaction of Jesus the Master, in the gladness of the Father's 
house, find the chief justification of our great gladness. We 
know, for God has said it, that there has been joy before the 



GREAT GLADNESS AND .TOY. 225 

Father because of the work that Ave have thus carried on, and the 
souls of those who have been Avon to the Father in Jesus have 
known some of the holy mirth which rules in heaven. 

II. Let me, as a second thought, give you an invitation to join in 
the song. Let the Levites be our leaders, for a host of them the 
Lord has sent us to aid in this branch of our work. That glad- 
ness which ceases before song begins is most partial and super- 
ficial in its experience. George Herbert says that "prayer is the 
end of preaching ; " and if that be so, then praising is the end of 
praying ; for, by-and-bye, both preaching and praying shall cease, 
but 

Our days of praise will ne'er be past 

While life, and soul, and being last. 

Oh, the joy that we have in this anticipation — the joy that is to 
be ours everlastingly ! That soul which has begun to praise has 
entered upon its eternal employment. When, therefore, I ask 
you to join in the song which is suggested by this gladness, I 
provide for you a method by which you shall forget your differ- 
ences. Not long since, in a very close and exclusive church, the 
hymn was announced : 

I love thy kingdom, Lord, 
The church of Thine abode; 

The second verse, as you remember, is : 

I love thy church, oh God, 

Her walls before Thee stand, 
Dear as the apple of Thine eye, 

And graven on Thine hand. 

All those dear people who worshipped through ceremony and 
symbol, with the utmost earnestness, united in the song. They 
forgot that an old-fashioned Puritan wrote it, so admirably did it 
fit into their High Church convictions. Thus have the songs of 
Charles Wesley found their way around the world, among Chris- 
tians of every name, and Isaac Watts has been the Asaph of the 
church for generations. When you can persuade two Christians 
of different convictions to sing together, you have provided a cer- 
tain way for annihilating their perplexities and contradictions 
and smoothing down their asperities. It is for this reason that 
we encourage the song, that our hearts may flow together in the 
new experience of our common privileges. 

But the gladness of the feast of the tabernacle is an indivi- 
dual experience. I can look all through this congregation to- 
night and point to individuals in the gallery and beneath on the 
floor who have received that joy of the Lord mysteriously; they 
know not how ; they hardly know when. It is the one thing that 
we have winch is singular. We are united together by all sorts 
of associations. We all have common experiences; but, my dear 



226 UNDER CANVAS. 

friends, your joy is unlike mine, and mine is different from that 
of any other believer the world around. This is the peculiarity 
of our Christian experience. Each one knoweth his own joy — 
has a different emotion from that of his fellow. A stranger in- 
ter meddleth not therewith. Who that have not experienced this 
gladness can know anything about it ? Who can describe it \ 
Who, of all this multitude of individuals that have received it, 
can define it ? How many hearts have been lightened ; how 
many homes have been brightened ; how many lives have been 
inspired through the very great gladness that God has given in 
the tent ! I have seen in your faces tears of repentance, and 
God's light of acceptance has painted the promises in their fall- 
ing showers. I have recognized the smile of submission with 
which the one who has surrendered to the Lord has grasped at 
the truth and entered into this experience at once. I have known 
it and rejoiced in it, as it has been manifested in the zeal of con- 
secration which has consumed some of our new converts through- 
out these weeks. Then it has been given me to behold this same 
blessed joy written on the silent features of those that have been 
sweetly called away by the Master's love to be with Him in His 
home. For let us not forget the souls of those that have wor- 
shipped with us in the tent, who now see Jesus face to face. The 
Master has called them from this lower sphere of privilege into 
the joys of His immediate presence. In all these varied ways 
have we recognized the singular and individual joy of each be- 
liever brought into the knowledge of the truth. 

But what a cho? 7 us we have had in this gladness. Not only 
your joy and my joy, but united with us have been the voices of 
thousands in the tribute of praise. Here have been assembled 
Christians of all denominations under heaven. Here have united 
ministers of the whole scattered and sundered church of Christ 
in the world. Here have labored those who have been divided 
by all sorts of prejudices and contradictory systems of theology 
in their past lives and relations to the church. I do not exagge- 
rate when I say that each one is ready now to rise and testify to 
his very great gladness in the communion of the work and worship 
which we have had. Where this thing will end, who can pro- 
phesy ? Certainly there has been perfect harmony in this work. 
All the differences of conviction have been lost in the common 
aim and end. It seems to me as though we have caught the 
music in mid air, as though from a high point of ascent, we have 
been listening to the songs and sounds and discords of earth. In 
our high places of experience, all the discordant things have been 
silenced, whilst the glad chorus in union alone has reached our 
ears. There may be differences among Christians, there may be 
jealousies and envyings and enmity. God be praised, we know 



GREA.T (iLADNKSS AND JOY. 22Y 

nothing about thorn. I testify before God and the church, that 
beneath the canvas we have had not even a suspicion of them. 
The joy has voiced itself in a chorus of loving song. Now these 
friends and Christian workers who have aided us, return to their 
own churches. I am very thankful that out of the six hundred per- 
sons who have been brought to an acknowledgement of Christ 
in this tent, less than one-sixth have proposed themselves as mem- 
bers of this Church. A number of the pastors of neighboring 
churches will to-night testify, by letter and in person, that many 
of those who found the way of life in the tent, have entered into 
church relations with them. Some such new church members are 
before me. You are to go back from this place of privilege and 
this sphere of obligation to your own churches. Bear with you 
our salutation in the gospel and work of Christ. Dear friends, 
see that you carry the gladness with you. Be sure that you take 
the brightness home to cheer the spirits of pastors and people to 
whom you come. Be known not by officiousness, not by affected 
sanctimoniousness, not by assumed over-piety, but by the witness 
of a submissive life, by a constancy of consecration and effort, by 
a quietness that can have only one explanation. O, may the world 
and the churches declare of you : " They have been with Jesus 
and have learned of Him." You will have, as did Nehemiah, 
inducements enough to come down from the high plane of life 
and privilege upon wdrich you have entered, to the level of the 
world. There will be conflict and calls to controversy. There 
have not been lacking during these weeks all sorts of efforts to 
bring us from the simplicity of our work ; but with Nehemiah 
learn to say, " I have a great work to do ; I cannot come down." 
There is no time for self-defence. In this age of earnestness, 
there is no time for apologies either of men or motives or methods. 
"We have a great work to do ; let us do it in a spirit of gladness 
wherever (rod in His providence may appoint us. 

III. Then as a last thought, not only may we justify this joy, 
and invite you to join in this song, but suggest how you can make 
this joy your steength. This is the practical result of the 
gladness. Let it not sink into sentiment. In the eighth chapter 
of the book of Nehemiah, at the tenth verse, the instruction is 
given us most distinctly, that : " The joy of the Lord is your 
strength," Every successful army goes forth to battle with song. 
How cheering the notes of the sailor as he heaves the anchor or 
hoists the sail to the song of his rude melody. Luther sang the 
Reformation into the hearts of the people. No great work for 
God has ever been accomplished except in the spirit of song and 
gladness. Some one has well said " Let me write the songs of 
the people, and you may write their laws." It is this spirit of joy 
which is the controlling master-spirit among men. 



'228 UNDER CANVAS. 

Your joy is the measure of your strength. Just in the degree 
of your perception of privilege in God through Christ, just ac- 
cording to this pulse-beat is your actual vigor in the Christian 
life. There could be no other evidence of spiritual health given 
except this. I know of no reason that can be suggested to any soul 
why he has love to God, save the one, that he enjoys the recon- 
ciliation which has been provided for him in the Saviour. The 
heroes of the church have always been anointed with joy. 
Doubt disarms, and fears paralyzes the stoutest soldier of the 
cross. Have no place in your life-plan for either of them. Sing 
their requiem morning, noon and night. Keep your lives in the 
joy of the Lord, and as your day, so shall your strength be. 
If ever troubled in spirit cry mightly with David : " Restore un- 
to me the joy of thy salvation ; and uphold me with thy free 
spirit. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways ; and sinners 
shall be converted unto thee." Self-sacrifice and Christian ser- 
vice are the pastime of joy. 

But the joy of the Lord is our strength in another sense. It 
is our fortress as well as our inspiration. One of the old writers 
says that the Lord bids us enter into this joy, because it is too 
great a joy to enter into us ; and we do make our entrance into 
the joy of acceptance and thanksgiving as into a stronghold. 
What seductions to evil can reach a man who has the conscious- 
ness of Divine favor and the Divine communion ? How can 
afflictions cast such an one down ? How shall persecution trouble 
him % He sings when everybody else weeps. He stands when 
everybody else falls. He glorifies God though the whole world 
forsakes Him. 

O, dear Christian workers, clap your hands ; give praise unto 
God, who hath made you competent for this vast work. Praise 
His gracious providence, who has led you as by the cloud of His 
own guiding care, and has filled the tabernacle with His glory.. 

A sad thought introduces itself as with these words I close our 
summer's work. " The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and 
some of you are not saved." This is a tone of bitterness in our 
great gladness. How I long to bring you into the joy of the 
reconciled to-night. Dear friends, look to that Saviour who alone 
can give you life and strength. Repose on Him in this hour of 
new thought and desire. Come now, before we separate, take 
your part with us, in the tribute of glory to the Father, who hath 
loved us, to the Son, who hath redeemed us, and to the Spirit, 
who calls lost sinners from sin unto holiness, and from earth to 
heaven. 



The final hour of the great work was devoted to short ad- 
dresses by several clergymen of various denominations, who had 



GREAT GLADNESS AND JOY. 229 

so unselfishly, so generously, so nobly given their support to the 
movement. 

The Rev. Chas. F. Deems, D.D., of the Church of the Strangers, 
said the hand of the Lord had clearly been with the brethren 
throughout the whole revival. A great advantage was derived 
from so many clergymen having participated in the services, for 
as no two men were alike, God had so fashioned and moulded 
them as to reach the hearts of hundreds of sinners. His advice 
was this : Every man to his room, every woman to her closet — 
every unconverted soul who had attended the Gospel Tent regu- 
larly — and let them say, "Lord, I have heard them all, every one ; 
now speak to my soul Thyself this night." In conclusion he said 
the work would leave its mark in the city, especially as it was 
purely undenominational. Let Christians sink all differences of 
opinions, and pray unitedly : " O, Lord, grant unto us a knowl- 
edge of Thy truth in this world, and in the world to come life 
everlasting." 

The Rev. J. Spencer Kennard, of the Thirty- third street 
Baptist Church, spoke in strong and hearty sympathy with the 
work, and said that his own church had received a substantial ac- 
cession of strength from it, for which he was truly grateful to 
God and to the originator of the movement. 

The Rev. Thomas Armitage, D.D., in a characteristic and 
humorous address, said it had afforded him very great pleasure 
to assist in the summer evangelization of the city, a work much 
needed, and hitherto sadly neglected, and he had had the privilege 
of recommending and procuring men like the Rev. Joseph Oclell, 
of Brooklyn, and the Rev. George Lamb, of England, to preach 
in the tent. 

The Rev. J. D. Herr, of the Central Baptist Church, said his 
own people had been thoroughly aroused and quickened by the 
great and unprecedented work, and he hoped and believed the 
future would show still greater things, especially during the com- 
ing winter. 

Messrs. Perkins and Thatcher sang as a duet, the following 
hymn, from Mr. Ira D. Sankey's collection : — 

All the way my Saviour leads me ; 

What have I to ask beside ? 
Can I doubt His tender mercy, 

Who through life has been my guide? 
Heavenly peace, divinest comfort, 

Here by faith in Him to dwell? 
For I know, whate'er befall me, 

Jesus doeth all thing well. 

All the way my Saviour leads me ; 

Cheers each winding path I tread ; 
Gives me grace for every trial, 

Feeds me with the living bread ; 



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Tho' my weary steps may falter, 

And my soul athirst may be, 
Gushing from the Rock before me, 

Lo ! a spriug of joy I see. 

All the way my Saviour leads me ; 

Oh, the fulness of His love! 
Perfect rest to me is promised 

In my Father's house above ; 
When my spirit, cloth'd immortal, 

Wings its flight to realms of day, 
This my song through endless ages — 

Jesus led me all the way. 

" May the grace of God our Father, the love of Jesus Christ 
our Saviour, and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost our Comforter, 
be with and remain among us, now and forever. Amen." 

So closed the first real summer revival in New York city. 
God grant that next year, not merely one Gospel Tent, but twenty 
may be distributed throughout its area, and that worship under 
canvas may become universal. 







CHAPTER XXVII. 



WINNING SOULS TO JESUS, AND SOULS WON 



" He that winneth souls is wise." — Proverbs xi., 30. 

It is universally conceded that the inquiry room is an indis- 
pensable adjunct to all evangelistic services. Men are lost in the 
mass, who listen to general truth, and are often "" ■» T <ewildered 
than blessed by their first awakening. The Chrisi.^/ 2 ^ atmosphere 
around them — the voice of prayer and song, the f er y ?.t earnest- 
ness of the preacher who cares more for the listeners eLan they do 
for themselves — all these are new and strange experiences to " this 
world," whose sole thought is to "eat and drink for to-morrow we 
die." Men are born skeptics in regard to " disinterested love," 
and are very incredulous when they are first besieged and besought 
to return to their Father's house. 

Many an inquirer has gone from a religious service with the 
thought " no man careth for my soul," until he has met that man 
in the inquiry room. It is natural for him to think that the 
speaker cares more for the crowd in general, than for him ; and 
in the soul's loneliness, it cares more fcr one man's interest than 
the multitude. It is a revelation to such souls that there is "joy 
in heaven over one sinner that repenteth." On earth, one soul 
often seems too little to make a fuss about. This, then, is his 
experience as the inquirer turns into a room where some one 
has time and thought to "sup with him," and offer His bread 
in return. 

Here, in the inquiry room, the anxious one faces persons 
rather than principles. He, himself, is the object of interest, and 
not his opinions, still less his admiration for the sermon or the 
speaker. Probably, for the first time, he discovers his own indi- 
viduality — at least in sin — and this drives him to discover that of 
the Saviour of sinners. He sees "how these Christians love one 
another" rather than their theories, and his cold, benumbed 



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faculties feel grateful for summer-land. The awakened soul in- 
stinctively turns, like an awakened child in the dark, to another 
soul like itself, to see if he, too, is awake, and to inquire what 
the darkness means. " Watchman, tell us of the night" is the 
burden of his inquiry, more than " Tell us of the day /" So ac- 
customed has he been to the dark that he shrinks from the light 
as from an enemy, because it condemns his deeds and darkness. 
But in the inquiry room he is to learn the glad tidings that he is 
the object loved. The doer of the deed and the dweller in the 
darkness is called into light, into life, into being ; out from lone- 
liness into companionship. In the delicate interest and care for 
him, by one who loves men, he learns for the first time that he is 
worth saving, and, being cared for by another than himself, that 
he is like certain lost valuable papers, which are of no use to any- 
body but the owner, who is really now inquiring for him. 

Here it is very important to remember that God Himself is 
the first Inquirer. Thus far we have considered the awakened 
and anxious inquirer, but with such an one the hard work has 
been already begun. Man does not trouble himself about his 
own position- mich less God's. It is his Maker that first in- 
quires, " Ads f, where art thou ?" The Father is more anxious 
for His lost child than the child. Men sometimes pray, " Oh, 
that sinners might be heard inquiring, 'What shall I do to be 
saved ? ' " but before that, God must be heard inquiring, " Who 
told thee thou wast naked ?" We have dwelt thus upon the per- 
son and position of the "inquirer " in order to thereby define the 
province and power of his helper, for it is our object, if possible, 
to aid such servants of Christ, more than to simply describe the 
work alone in the Gospel Tent, important and valuable though 
that was. 

We Christians know, to our bitter cost, that the trouble is not 
half so much with the " poor blind Bartimeus " as with us heed- 
less, groping, stumbling disciples, who forget that our mission is 
not to call them to Christ ourselves, but to say, "Be of good 
comfort ; rise, He calleth thee." Before they can cry, " Jesus, 
Thou Son of David, have mercy upon me," Jesus of Nazareth 
must pass by ! It is He that caused the cry, and He alone that 
can hush it. The genuine inquirer is one who has been already 
"called of God." The title "Christian Worker" is, perhaps, less 
apt than that of " Christian Believer." Jesus says, " This is the 
work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." 
Therefore, the first essential in Christian service is, the protound- 
est faith that it is not he " that doeth the works, but the Father 
that dwelleth in him ! " Our work is more with our Father first 
than with our brother. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with all thy soul." It was Jesus that Bartimeus needed ; not the 



WINNING SOULS TO JESL8, AND SOULS WON. 233 ' 

disciple. We should feel this dependence more if we only re- 
membered that it was " our Father that had done the work " in 
the inquirer's heart already. God has troubled him with a ques- 
tion which only God can answer. We should not visit but 
" dwell in the secret place of the Most High," so conscious are 
Ave of our nothingness away from Him. The " Throne of Grace" 
should not be a phrase but a fact to us, and we should remember 
that the sinner needs the Sovereign's assurance, not ours. We 
should have faith for him. He is timid and hopeless for him- 
self, but, like the father of the Epileptic, the inquirers weak 
faith needs strengthening by the positive and unqualified assur- 
ance from our lips that " All things are possible to him that be- 
lieveth," — not by but to him — by our Father who doeth the works. 
Surely He who hath begun the good work of conviction does not 
leave the converting and sanctifying of man to himself or his 
brother. Inquirers come into the room wanting everything but 
what they need, namely, Christ. All men are inquirers, but the 
objects of their search are as many and varied as themselves. 
They will have " peace " and " assurance of heaven," and, above 
all, " feeling," yes, and even faith; anything, in fact, but Him. 
They would like life, but " Ye will not come unto Me that ye 
might have life !" They would like "rest," and try to give it to 
themselves or take it from our lips, and, alas ! we often try and 
give it to them ! All our working for Jesus serves neither Him 
nor them. Man is ever trying to work himself into God's good 
graces, forgetting it is the work of God to work His good graces 
into us, by abiding Himself in our houses. 

Xext to the Christian's oneness with his God should be his 
oneness with the sinner. A brother once remarked concerning a 
poor drunkard : " I could never help that man, for I was never so 
low down as he !" The trouble with that brother was, he not 
only had forgotten "the pit whence he was digged," but he never 
knew its depth and his own degradation. Even as he spoke his 
spirit was drunk with pride. Sin makes men craven and abject; 
they shrink from the Christian's presence because of the Pure 
Presence. But we can establish their confidence by showing our 
wounds in Satan's service, as Christ Himself never could, for "He 
knew no sin." 

Our name may differ, but our nature is the same. The 
inquirer's very temptation and failure may have been ours, which 
shall at least, be a common bond of brotherly sympathy and 
pity, although only " He who was tempted and knew no sin, 
can ever succor him.' 

Experience teaches that our ears are often more valuable than 
our lips. Many only seek an argument, not a Saviour ; let them 
have it all. Many play with their real burden by flinging dis- 



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putea scripture at you ; let them empty themselves till they get 
down to their sin. And again, many have some clearly denned 
known sin ever between them and Christ ; let them roll down their 
stony heart in the chasm of your ear. Their eyes are constantly 
riveted upon one point broken in the law ; and He who came to 
fulfil the law may be waiting to begin right there. Many and 
many come who have been nominally trained in Christian homes, 
and are nominal members of His church, who long to express 
their disgust with their hypocrisy ; secret feuds in the family; un- 
forgiven debtors, and even creditors, accumulated hoards of self- 
righteousness, and, underneath it all, a weary body of deathly self ; 
all these they bring for burial in some sympathetic bosom, before 
they have their ears open to receive. " Out of the abundance of 
the heart the mouth must speak," and it is generally full enough 
of sin. A wise and loving silence, more than speech, may press 
it out. This negative side of the Christian Worker in the inquiry 
room is of no less value than the positive. Unstrained faith and 
unaffected humility on account of his own human nature, will 
keep him still before the Lord. He will be so near God that he 
will not have to shout to make Him hear. He will have tender 
reverence for his brother-workers, and above all for the inquirer. 
All the more will he bear w T ith the coarse, unsensitive sinner who 
does not " feel his sins." 

A young and fair woman came gaily into the inquiry room, 
once, saying, " I have come in here to see if I can get under con- 
viction." She toyed with her jeweled watch, as if to say, " I 
have but five minutes to spare," and shook her golden curls, and 
tossed her graceful head as if in coquetry. We said to her, "The 
loving Lord may have to rob you of your beauty to answer your 
prayer." Another equally fresh and winning character, a young 
man, said, with the same frankness, " I love my sins, and cannot 
give them up, even though I know they will drag me down to hell ; 
and I see no beauty in Christ that I should desire Him ! " Do 
such poor sinners merit the horror of Christians ? This young 
man came night after night. He knew he needed Christ, but he 
did not want Him ! If the Holy Spirit bears such trifling, surely 
the human spirit can waive its harsh judgments, and pray Father 
forgive, for they know not what they do. The inquirer has 
heard that " God was in the world, reconciling man unto Him- 
self." Now, when he goes into the inquiry room, he needs to find 
Christian believers, who emphasize that gospel; not those who 
prove their doubt by officiously trying to do God's work for Him, 
praying Him to come who has already come, or praying the 
inquirer to come to One who has already " come to seek and save 
that which was lost." Every word of the worker should be God's 
— not His letter, but His Word, (Christ ;) not His scripture alone, 



WINNING SOULS TO JESUS, AMD SOULS WON. 235 

but His Spirit. The very feeling of distance from, and fear of 
God, is produced by His own near voice calling the anxious one. 
They need encouragement by showing them Him. We should 
believe, if they do not, that God is not far from any one of them. 
Our name should be Emmanuel — God with us. 

In concluding our general remarks on inquiry room work, we 
wish to state that the most important thing in connection with 
such a portion of evangelistic labor is the suitability of the 
Christian who is appointed leader of the helpers. Such a post 
does not merely demand a sincere anxiety for souls, and deep 
earnestness of manner, but the leader must be a person of dis- 
crimination, — one who can judge an inquirer the moment he 
enters the room, and assign to him a helper suited to his char- 
acter and apparent state of mind. The leader should also see 
that quietness and freedom from anything like excitement is 
maintained ; and, under no circumstances, should praying aloud, 
or breaking out into song, be allowed. In a word, the leader 
should be an old experienced Christian, at once earnest, courteous, 
discriminating and sober. 

Many intensely interesting and instructive incidents are con- 
stantly occurring in such a work as that at the tent. Between 
2,500 and 3,000 souls sought counsel in the inquiry room. Up- 
wards of 600 known cases of conversion occurred. Who can tell 
how many others were led into the knowledge of the truth as it 
is in Christ Jesus ? We give a few illustrative cases showing the 
working of the Holy Spirit. 

Mrs. P's daughter had lost her only child — a little girl of 10. 
Both were overcome with grief, but the daughter was delirious. 
Every worldly good had been given the child, but no spiritual. 
They only knew our Lord but to fear Him. He says we shall 
have no other God before Him, and He takes this idol to give 
them a chance to think of Him, the Creator, more than the 
creature, and find time to worship Him and prepare for eternity. 
Our good Lord was kind enough to knock thus at her door, who 
had refused all other calls, before He turned away, and she 
listened. May God bless this, His knocking, to some reader. 

Helper. — Well, my dear woman, what words can I say to 
comfort you ? 

Inquirer. — I am sure I cannot tell. 

Help. — If you don't know, I'm sure I've no idea what you are 
longing for. 

Inq.~ — My dear sir, my cup of sorrow is full to the brim and 
running over, and I can find no peace — it is more than I can bear 
— I know it is what I deserve, f or I have never paid any attention 
to God. But, alas, I have made up my mind that when we think 



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more of the things of this world than of God, He will take them 
away, as He has our little darling. It was hard to part with her, 
and what is worse, yes, far worse, I am afraid we shall never 
see her again. I am afraid I will never get to heaven. I am 
afraid it is too late for me to be a Christian. I am. too old to 
begin to love God, and have my sins forgiven, by (as so many 
kind Christians say) " Simply trust in God." I have prayed most 
all the time since she left us, read my Bible, and cried to God and 
listened to Christians, and come to the tent, and done my best to 
please Him, hoping He would forgive me. But I am about giving 
up — I can't feel it ; I have tried so hard, night and day, my heart 
is most broken. I would do anything to feel as some Christians 
say they do. 

Help. — As to your worldly trouble, I am heartily sorry for 
you and sympathise deeply — but as to your spiritual trouble I 
cannot agree with you. Jesus Christ says to me " Him that 
cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out," and I believe Him. 

Inq. — O yes, I know, but I can't seem to know or feel when I 
have come to Him. I am doing as Christian friends tell me, but 
I can't feel happy. I do my best and hope God will help me. 

Help. — Well, my dear madam, my God forgives me for do- 
ing my worst. The same God that tells you you are lost, tells me 
I am saved. I believe Him and you don't. Your mind ac- 
knowledges God but your heart has not accepted Him. 

Inq. — I don't want to find at the last I am self-deceived by 
being too sure that I am forgiven and saved. 

Help. — God says, " Where two or three are gathered together 
in My name, there am I in the midst of them." And " If two of 
you shall agree on earth as touching anything they shall ask, it 
shall be done for them of My Father which is in heaven." Be- 
lieving He is here, let us ask Him, for Christ's sake, that He will 
speak through me to you words that may let you see the truth as 
it is in His Word, so you may realize and see and know your 
Saviour — for my God is prayer-answering and hearing. 

Inq. — With all my heart. I'm willing to do anything to know 
He loves me and will forgive my sins. — (Brief prayer.) 

Help. — ISTow, listen without saying one word. May He soft- 
en your heart that you may believe (I do not say feel) it. u God so 
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoso- 
ever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting 
life." ISTow God being true, this proves He loves us whether we 
feel it or not. His Son says to John, "As the Father hath loved 
Me, so have I loved you." "Ye are my friends." " Ye have not 
chosen Me, but I have chosen you." Now God does not con- 
demn you for what you have done, but for not believing Him, 
and for rejecting His offer of salvation. Whenever any doubt 



Winning souls to jesus, and souls won. 237 

enters your mind, just say, " my God tells me to the contrary." 
Believe and stop trying to feel — as we read now. What you do not 
feel, just say, "my God tells me so, and I believe Him." "For 
whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." 

Inq. — I have called and am saved ; God says so. 

Help. — "Now is the accepted time: now is the day of sal- 
vation." 

Inq. — Now is the time for me to come ; God says so. 

Help. — "All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turn- 
ed every one his own way, and the Lord hath laid on Him the 
iniquity of us all." 

Inq. — My iniquity is laid on Him ; God says so. 

Help. — " Who His own self bore our sins in His own body 
on the tree." 

Inq. — He has borne my sins in His body on the tree ; God 
says so. 

Help. — " Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was 
against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, 
nailing it to His cross." 

Inq. — He has blotted out the handwriting against me ; God 
says so. 

Help. — " Yerily, verily I say unto you, he that heareth My 
Word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life." 

Inq. — I have heard it, I believe, and must have life; God 
says so. 

Full of emotion had she listened, and as she said " I believe 
and must have life," a faint smile stole over her countenance 
amidst her tears. I asked what it meant, but she could say noth- 
ing. I said, " I don't wonder you are happy." Her emotion 
overcame her, and she said, " I believe I feel better, and if my 
dear daughter could only feel as I do. Just as soon as I can, as 
soon as I dare, I will talk with her." 

Help.— My dear friend, just think when you leave this place, 
my God says so, and that you must believe always before you can 
feel what it is to be a Christian. 



Towards the close of the tent services, one evening in October, 
two gentlemen engaged in a considerable business in this city 
came to Mr. R., who has re-produced their words as near as possi- 
ble in a condensed form. They said: We have been for years 
friends in business, in pleasure and in sin. We have been com- 
panions, and have gone to many of the worst sinks of iniquity in 
the city. One raised his hair and showed a deep scar received 
during a drunken brawl only a few days previously. "Now," 
they said, "we have sinned together, and we want to be saved 
together. We know we are going to hell, we feel we are lost 



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sinners, but it does seem so very hard to be a Christian, and there 
is so much to do." Bitter tears attested the heart-felt sincerity 
of the confession made for both by one, " and yet," the speaker 
remarked, nodding at his companion, "he is better than me; 
there is much good in him." Till a late hour Mr. R. sat with 
them, explaining the Word of God, making each read and re-read 
passages till their meaning became plain, and the light seemed to 
dawn. From that day to this they have been most regular in 
their attendance at all the meetings, and give every sign, as far 
as man's eye can see, that the work so marvellously begun by the 
Spirit of God shall be continued until the day of Christ. Both 
have become regular members of the church. 



An actress, who was a Roman Catholic, and was engaged in a 
troupe temporarily playing in New York, came to the tent ac- 
companied by her mother-in-law, who was a Christian. She 
heard the Rev. Dr. Tyng, jr., preach from the text, " One shall 
say I am the Lord's." It was the first time she had been to a 
protestant place of worship. Upon her return home that night, 
she stated to her husband that it was her fixed determination to 
become a Christian. She attended the evening service in the 
tent about ten days after her first visit, and was deeply impressed 
by a sermon on the text " But my God shall supply all your need 
according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus," preached by 
the Rev. William S. Rainsford. In response to the invitation 
given in the after-meeting, she was one of many who stood up for 
the prayers of God's people, and subsequently retired into the 
inquiry room where the " old, old story of Jesus and His love," 
in all its simplicity and beauty was gently placed before her by a 
lady worker. An earnest season of prayer was held, and though 
she was deeply conscious of her need of the Saviour, she could 
not be induced that night, to forsake her profession for the Lord. 
The stage, and all its demoralizing and baleful influences, stood 
between her and her God. It was her living, and her husband, 
too, was opposed to anything approaching Christianity. No 
doubt he would sneeringly say it was mere sentiment and folly, 
when the poor, anxious soul told him about the matter. The 
next news heard of her was brought by her mother-in-law, who 
stated that she had found that " peace which passeth all under- 
standing," and was perfectly happy, and had resolved to forsake 
all and follow her Lord and Master. May God Almighty sustain 
her in all grace and strength. 



B d, a young man of moral character, but a non-church- 
goer, had a child born to him, when a " sweet, still voice " whis- 
pered to him, and he made up his mind that he would give his off- 



WINNING SOULS TO JESUS, AND SOULS AVON. 239.. 

spring a Christian home, and for that purpose went to the Gospel 
Tent ivith the express object of being taught how to become a 
Christian himself. Here is a glorions instance of the peculiar 
and unsearchable ways of God in bringing men to the Lord Jesus 
Christ. The young man's father had been a .drunkard, and the 
thoughts of his own wretched childhood home also had its effect 
upon bringing him to the determination of seeking the Saviour. 
He came and listened, and need it be added that the Father met 
him % " Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out." 

God is true to His Holy Word, and young B -d's morality 

is now beautified with godliness. He learnt the lesson, that 
morality without godliness is like a flower without fragrance, 
and now claims Jesus as his Prophet, Priest and King — his Friend 
and Elder Brother. 



R , a gambler, was persuaded to come to the services by 

a once boon companion, but who had found the Saviour during 
the evangelistic labors of Messrs. Moody and Sankey, in New York 
City. On the night in question, he had started to his place of 
employment, a gambling-hell, when the young convert met him, 
and ultimately induced him to come and hear this curious gospel 
that had turned a gambler, a drunkard, and a reprobate, into an 

honest, sober, loving, respectable member of society. R 

had ocular demonstration of this fact in the person of his past 
" chum " and present friend, who was doing his Master's work. 
He heard the sermon entitled " Let us alone ! " in chapter XII of 
this volume, and the Holy Spirit entirely broke him down. He 
went into the inquiry room completely prostrated, and then and 
there accepted salvation with deep thankfulness and joy. He 
forsook his nefarious employment without a question, notwith- 
standing he had a wife and two little children dependant on him 
for support. He was out of work for some time, but was, at last, 
appointed a conductor on the 8th Avenue Railroad. He is con- 
stantly heard of, and is steadfast in the faith ; and has been used 
by the gracious Lord in bringing a companion in the gambling 
profession to a knowledge of the truth. 

An elderly man, a Swedenborgian, strayed into the tent by 
accident, and heard the Rev. Wm. Lloyd preach from the words 
" How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation 1 " (Chap. 
XL) He was impressed and stayed behind, apparently being 
unable to leave the place. 

Christian Worker. — Are you seeking to accept this great 
salvation ? 

Inquirer. — I don't know. (The answer was given with an 
oath, and in a morose manner.) 



24:0 UNDER CANVAS. 

G. W. — What are you staying for ? 

Inq. — I don't know^ Perhaps I sliould like to be saved ; but 
I believe that I have a cold, hard heart without any feeling in it. 
I have no love in my nature. 1 almost hate everybody I see, and 
yet I somehow believe the Bible, but it is no good to me. What 
good is it to you ? 

G. W. — Through belief on it, if I were to die just now I 
should go to heaven instead of being cast into hell. But that is 
only a little of the good it does me. It teaches me all things 
and makes me love you and wish that you may be saved from 
everlasting destruction. But you say you believe God's Word ? 
Is that so ? 

Inq. — Yes; at least, I suppose I do. 

G. W. — Are you acquainted with God's plan of salvation ? 

Inq. — Oh, yes. I know the Bible well, but cannot help think- 
ing religion is, after all, nothing but humbug. 

G. W. — And that is what you call believing God's Word ? 
Listen : " Except a man be born again he cannot see the king- 
dom of God." Do you believe that ? 

Inq. — I don't understand that. 

G. W. — That does not matter. Remember, it is God who 
speaks the words. Does He tell the truth, or lie ? 

Inq. — I have no doubt it is true. 

G. W. — Yery well. Now let us see if God does not explain 
what being " born again " actually means. " Whosoever believeth 
that Jesus is the Christ is born of God." Are you born of God ? 

Inq. — I don't believe I am. 

G. W. — Then you do not believe that Jesus is the Christ ? 

Inq. — Yes, I do. 

G. W. — Then God is a liar if you are not born again. Please 
read the words yourself. 

Inq. — They are simple enough, but I do not feel that I am 
born of God. 

G. W. — And yet you say you believe God, and He tells you 
that if you believe Jesus is the Christ you are born of God. 
Therefore you either do not believe Him or His Word is not 
true. Listen again : " If we receive the witness of men, the wit- 
ness of God is greater." Now I want to tell you, my dear sir, 
that nine months ago I was a very fast man — living in great sin. 
God converted me, and since then I have been enabled, by His 
power, to forsake all my bad habits, and to live an entirely new 
life. He gave me a new heart, put a clean spirit within me, and 
fresh aspirations and desires. He created me a new man in 
Christ Jesus, through whom I have eternal life ; and I know that 
when I die that where my Saviour is there shall I be also. Do 
you believe I speak truthfully? 



WINNING SOULS TO JESUS, AND SOULS WON. 2J:1 

Inq. — Certainly, I do. 

C. IF. — And yet you do not believe God — you receive my 
statement and reject His, which is above all. Listen: "He that 
believeth not God hath made Him a liar ; because he believeth 
not the record that God gave of His Son. And this -is the 
record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and tins life is in 
His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not 
the Son of God hath not life." Have you, my brother, eternal 
life through Christ Jesus, in whom you say you believe \ 

Inq. — I must have according to God, for I do believe Jesus 
died to save sinners. But do you think He will forgive -me for 
my fifty years sinful life \ 

C. W. — Listen again : "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have 
no pleasure in the death of the wicked ; but that the wicked turn 
from his way and live." " He was wounded for our transgres- 
sions, He was bruised for our iniquities : the chastisement of our 
peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed." 
" Christ died for our .sins, according to the scriptures." "Him 
that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." Do you now be- 
lieve God will forgive your sins ? 

Inq. — He has forgiven them. 

C. TT.— What ! Are you then saved ? 

Inq. — I think so. 

C. W. — Are you " born of God," and have you life eternal 
through Christ Jesus ? 

Inq. — I must have, if God is true, and I believe He is true. I 
am saved. 

C. W. — Then you believe you are saved from hell, and that 
through the work of Jesus you will attain heaven when you die ? 

Inq. — Yes, sir. 

C. W.— What then % 

Inq. — I ought to thank God for His goodness. 

The self-styled hard-hearted man, with tears in his eyes, knelt 
on his knees and, for the first time in fifty years, poured out 
his soul to God Almighty for having given him an everlasting 
salvation, and he also prayed for the worker whom God had per- 
mitted to speak the word of eternal life. Glory and honor to 
the Most High. 



We could multiply, to almost any length, cases of equal, if 
not more, interest than the foregoing, but enough has been given to 
show how the Lord blessed this portion of the work. Not a 
night passed in the tent without some sinners declaring saving 
faith in Jesus, and among them were several Koinan Catholics, 
Swedenborgians, Universalists, Jews and Infidels. Of the latter 
class, there were some very remarkable cases, especially one of a 



242 UNDER CANVAS. 

lady in high position, who had been a skeptic and a scoffer for 
thirty years. She was well read in infidelity, and came to the 
tent with the object of triumphing over Christianity by argument, 
but God in His mercy revealed Himself to her. Of the Roman 
Catholics, Jews, Swedenborgians, etc., who professed conversion, 
they all gave good evidence of its reality. The correspondence 
received from converts of all classes is very interesting and in- 
structive, but the difficulty of selection is too great, having regard 
to space. However, if any of our readers are specially interested in 
the particulars of these or any other cases, we will endeavor to 
furnish them, if practicable, on application being made to us. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

GOSPEL TENT HYMNS AND TUNES. 

BY THEODORE E. PERKINS. 



Mrs. Eliz. Codner 






EVEN ME. 



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1. Lord, I hear of show'rs of blessings. Thou art scattering, full and free : 

2. Pass me not, . O God. our Fa - ther ! Sin - ful tho' my heart may be; 

3. Pass me not, gra- cious Sav-iour! Let me live and cling to Thee! 




I 
Show'rs the thirst -y land re - fresh -ing. Let some droppings fall on me- 
Thou miglit'st leave me, but the rath - er Let Thy mer - cy fall on mc- 
For I'm long -ing for Thy fa - vor; Whilst thou'rt calling, call on me 



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E - ven me, E - ven me ! 
E - ven me, E - ven me ! 



Let some drop-pings fall on me. 
Let Thy mer - cy fall on me. 
Whilst thou'rt calling, call on me. 



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4 Pass me not, mighty Spirit, 

Thou canst make the blind to see; 
Testify of Jesus' merit! 
Speak some word of power to me. 

Even me, Even me! 
Speak some word of power to me. 
From " Calvar 



5 Love of God— so pure and changeless, 
Blood of Christ— so rich, so free; 
Grace of God — so strong and boundless, 
Magnify it all in me ! 
Even me, Even me ! 
Magnify it all in me ! 
•y Songs," by per. 



244 



UNDER CANVAS. 



LOOKINGr UNTO JESUS. 



Fanny Crosby. 



Theodore E. Perkins. 



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Thou shall reap at last 
Fruits of Joy eternal, 

When thy work is past ; 
Crowds of shining angels 

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Bun thy race with patience, 

Yonder is the prise. 



3. Trials may befall thee, 

Thorns beset thy way, 
Never mind them, brother, 

Only watch and pray: 
Through the vale of sorrow 

Once the Saviour trod ; 
Run thy race with patience, 

Pressing on to God 



GOSPEL TENT HYMNS AND TUNES. 245 

JESUS OF NAZARETH PASSETH BY. 



Theodore E. Perkins. 






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in ac-cents hush' d re-ply: " Je - bus of Naz - a- reth pas-seth by." 
the stir-ring tones re- ply : " Je - sus of Naz - a- reth pas- seth by." 

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A - gain the stir-ring tones re- ply : " Je - sus of Naz- a - reth pas- seth by." 




8. Jesus! 'tis he who once below 
Man's pathway trod, 'mid pain and woe ; 
And burdened hearts, where'er he came, 
Brought out their sick, and deaf, and 

lame. 
Blind men rejoiced to hear the cry : 
" Jesus of Nazareth passeth by." 

4. Again he comes ! From place to place 
His holy footprints we can trace. 
Ho pauses at our threshold — nay, 
He enters — condescends to stay. 
Shall we not gladly raise the cry, 
" Jesus cf Nazareth passeth by." 



E>. Ho i all ye heavy-laden come ! 

Here's pardon, comfort, rest, and 

home. 
Lost wanderers from a Father's face 
Return, accept his proffered grace. 
Ye tempted, there's a refuge nigh, 
"Jesus of Nazareth passeth by." 

6. But if you still this call refuse, 
And do such wondrous love abuse, 
Soon will he sadly from you turn, 
Your bitter prayer for pardon spurn. 
" Too late 1 too late 1" will be the cry — 
" Jesus of Nazareth hath passed &y." 



246 



UNDER CANVAS. 



LOVE OP JESUS. 



Theodoke E. Perkins. 




1. There is no love like the love of Je-sus, Never the fade or fall, 



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2 There is no heart like the heart of Jesus, 

Filled with a tender love; 
No throb nor throe that our hearts can know, 
But He feels it above.— Cho. 

3 There is no eye like the eye of Jesus, 

Piercing so far away: 
Ne'er out of the sight of its tender light 
Can the wanderer stray. — Cho. 

4 There is no voice like the voice of Jesus, 

Tender and sweet its chime, 
Like musical ring of the flowing spring 
In the bright summer time.— Cho. 

5 Oh, let us hark to the voice of Jesus; 

Oh, may we never roam, 
Till safe we rest on His loving breast, 
In the dear heavenly home. — Cho. 
From " Songs of Salvation," by per. 



GOSPEL TENT HYMNS AND TUNES. 



247 



THINE FOREVER. 



M. F. Matjde. 



Theodore E. Perkins. 







1. Hear us from Thy throne above,Thiue for-ever — ever — God of love ! 

2. They who fiud iu Thee, their rest, Thine for-ever — ever — oh, how blest ! 

3. Let us all Thy goodness share, Sheltered only — only — in Thy care ; 





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From " Calvary Songs,'" by per. 



248 



UNDER CANVAS. 



COME, OH, COME WITH THY BROKEN HEART. 

Fanny Crosby. 



Theodore E. Perkins. 




1. Come, oh, 

2. Firm - ly 
D. C. Come, oh, 



come with thy bro- ken heart, "Wea - ry and -worn with care ; 
cling to the blessed cross, There shall thy refuge be ; 
come with thy bro -ken heart Wea-ry and worn with care ; 



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now in the crimson fount, Flowing so pure for thee : 

kneel at the o - pen door, Je - sus is wait- ing there: 

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Close in his dear embrace. — Oho. 

From " Calvary Songs," by per. 



GOSPEL TENT HYMNS AND TUNES. 



249 



BATTLING FOR THE LORD. 



Semi-Chorus. 



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Our captain's word our strength and 

Battling for the Lord !— Cho. [might, 



We'll stand like heroes on the field, 

Battling for the Lord ! 
And nobly fight bnt never yield, 

Battling for the Lord!- Oho. 



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Though sin and death our way oppose, 

Battling for the Lord ! 
Through grace we'll conquer all our foes, 

Battling for the Lord ! — Cho. 



And when our glorious war is o'er, 

Battling for the Lord ! 
We'll shout salvation evermore, 

Battling for the Lord !— Cho* 



250 



UNDER CANVAS. 



rWILL NEVER LEAVE THEE. 



Rev. A. T. Piekson, D. D. 



Theodoee E. Pekkins. 




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2. When, like gold in fur-nace tried, Thou shalt purge and prove me, 

3. When I tread the vale of death, Let not fears con-found me : 

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Front " Cqlvary Songs" ~by per. 



GOSPEL TENT HYMNS AND TUNES. 

COMB UNTO ME. 



251 



Rev. P. A. Hajtnaford. 



Theodobe E. Peeexns. 




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Lord Jesus ! now thy voice we hear, 

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From earthly hopes and vain desires, 

Our spirits turn away. 
Thy voice, Teacher most divine ! 

With gentle tones so sweet, 
Comes o'er us mid the din of earth, 

And stays our wandering feet. 



Rest, rest in thee ! my spirit longs 

For calm and sweet repose : 
To have my soul a tranquil lake 

Whereon faith's lily grows. 
I claim thy promise, gracious Lord ! 

Thy love to comfort me, 
Repenting, hoping, loving now, 

Christ ! I come to thee. 



From, " Calvary Songs." by per. 



252 



UNDER CANVAS. 



REST, PILGRIM, REST. 



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2. Best in the shadow of the Bock, O pilgrim, Best, pilgrim, 



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Best in the shadow of the Bock, pilgrim, 

Best, pilgrim, rest 



From "Calvary Songs.' 1 ' 1 by per. 



GOSPEL TENT HYMNS AND TUNES. 253 

JESUS WILL WELCOME ME. 




1. My spir - it in hope is re - joic - ing, The pros-pect, tho" dis-tant, I 

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Je - sus will welcome me home. 



2. How sweet are the visions of rapture, 

Which often by faith I behold : 
The saints in their garments of beauty, 
A city where streets are of gold! — Cho. 

3. Dear Saviour, I long to behold thee, 

I long in thy image to rise ; 
Oh, when, Uke a bird on its pinions, 

Say, when shall I soar to the skies ? — Oho. 



254 UNDER CANVAS. 

BEYOND THE SMILING AND THE WEEPING. 



Rev. H. Bonar, D.D. 



Theodore E. Perkins. 



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s 



33 



1 



5=5=^=5= 



1 • 1 

3 Beyond the parting and the meeting, 

I shall be soon ; 
Beyond the farewell and the greeting. 
Beyond the pulse's fever beating, 

I shall be soon. Cho. 

4 Beyond the frost-chain and the fever, 

I shall be soon ; 
Beyond the rock-waste and the river, 
Beyond the ever and the never, 

I shall be soon. Cho. 
From " Calvary Songs, 1 ' by ptr. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 



SOWING THE SEED. 



PAPER ON THE WORK OF THE GOSPEL TEXT OF THE BROOKLYN YOUNG 
MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION, DURING THE SUMMER OF 1876. 



The idea of gospel services for the masses under canvas dur- 
ing the summer season has been more than once suggested and 
considered. But it was not until the present year that the success 
of the services originated in New York by Rev. Dr. Stephen H. 
Tyng, jr., decided the Executive Committee of the Christian 
Work Committee, | to adopt a similar plan, appeal to the generos- 
ity of the Christian public for support, secure the preaching of 
Christ to the neglected classes, and trust the Divine power for 
spiritual results. 

In the selection of a site on which to erect the tent, we were 
guided in our choice by the fact that thousands of people, in search 
of health, pleasure and recreation throng to Prospect Park every 
Sabbath afternoon. By the generous permission of property 
owners in the vicinity, ground was readily secured on Union 
Street, near 9th Avenue, in one of the most beautiful locations on 
Long Island, within a moment's walk of the plaza fountain and 
the main entrance to the Park, and overlooking in the distance a 
portion of New York bay, with its bright waters and white ship- 
ping. One might well exclaim, " Beautiful for situation." 

The tent erected is circular in shape, one hundred feet in 

* Prepared by A. S. Emmons. 

t This Committee consists of L. D. Mason, M.D., A. S. Emmons. Robert G. 
Harm, J. F. Snedeker, Dr. Mattison, and John P. Adams, President of the Asso- 
ciation, ex-officio. They have been materially assisted by Alanson Trask, John 
French, Chas. H. Dutcher, C, H, Dillingham, Alonzo Alford, F. B. Beers, Juan 
Alzamora, and others. 



256 UNDER CANVAS. 

diameter, forty feet high at the centre-pole, and in every way a neat 
and pleasant structure. All necessary accommodations were 
provided for the health and comfort of attendants ; flooring with 
carpeted aisles, chairs arranged as at the Rink and Hippodrome, 
and ventilation without draught by means of a new pattern of 
side curtains. During the day the crimson streamer with " B. Y. 
M. C. A. Gospel Tent," in white letters in striking contrast with 
the canvas, attracted the attention of every passer-by. At night, 
when illuminated within, and surrounded by colored lights without, 
it was seen from a distance, and presented an even more beauti- 
ful appearance. In the interior, scripture texts in black letters on 
white cards were placed on each wall-pole, thus preaching the 
gospel through the eyes as well as the ears of the people. Sus- 
pended over the platform, — provided for the speakers, the choir, 
and special visitors — was a banner bearing the words of the angelic 
song over the plains of Bethlehem, " Peace on earth and good will 
to men." On the reverse of the scarlet screen at the main entrance 
to the tent, a most precious text was arranged in a way at once 
novel and alike calculated for artistic effect and spiritual impres- 
sion. On a ground of gray, in black, white and crimson letters, 
as most appropriate, the words were spelled " Though your sins be 
as scarlet they shall be as white as snow ; though they be red 
like crimson, they shall be as wool." Whatever good may have 
been accomplished by this text, in this place, as it met the sight of 
so many hundreds every Sabbath, will be a striking instance of the 
importance of little things, as it was suggested by a conversation 
overheard in a car. 

In the arrangements for the tent services the importance of 
sacred music was recognized. Often there is more power in a 
song than a sermon. In the awakening of dead souls to life, the 
Holy Spirit often uses the groanings of conscience, the breathings 
of penitence, the aspirations of faith, embodied in some simple 
hymn, when the most eloquent appeals of the preacher are power- 
less. 

A choir of about one hundred voices, with a cornet and organ 
accompaniment, were secured at the beginning, and were always 
faithful in attendance and earnest in the endeavor to lead the con- 
gregation in devotional singing, and not to sing for them as a 
merely artistic performance. The singing was at all the services, 
an act of worship. 

In a slight sketch, like the present, it is not possible to give 
an account in detail of all the meetings that were held. A 
brief outline of services, in order of time, must suffice. 

July 16t7i. — On this day the tent was dedicated. About 
fifteen hundred people were present. The president of the 
Association, began the exercises by a few words fitly spoken, in 






SOWING THE SEED. 257 

regard to the object of these out-door services. The venerable 
preacher, Rev. William S. Plurhmer, D. D., offered the opening 
prayer. " All hail the power of Jesus' name," was sung by the 
choir and congregation. Rev. Thomas Crowther read the scripture 
selection, and after singing "There is a fountain filled with 
blood," the Rev. Dr. Cuyler delivered a short and stirring 
address, of which we give here only a few words : 

" When the disciples caught nothing near the land our Lord told 
then to launch out into the deep, where fish were plenty. The 
Young Men's Association had come over to this thoroughfare to 
fling out their nets for souls, and the idea was a common-sense one 
from a Christian standpoint. Their doors were thrown w T ide 
open for all who chose to come. There were some houses that 
the laws of God and the commonwealth forbid man to enter on 
the Sabbath. When people did enter them they had to do it by 
stealth. Not so with this Gospel Tent. Its promoters' purpose 
was not to harm the body, but to do the body and soul good. 
They did not offer poison, but the water of life. This place was 
dedicated to the observance of the Sabbath day, to public morality, 
to the saving of souls, to every high and holy purpose for which 
the human voice can be lifted. He trusted that now the work 
was commenced, there would be no backward steps ; that such 
success would attend their efforts as w^ould warrant them in con- 
tinuing the movement year after year." "Pull for the shore," was 
then sung as a solo, the choir and congregation joining in the 
chorus. Appropriate remarks were made by Rev. Thomas Crow- 
ther, and after singing and prayer the audience was dismissed with 
the benediction. 

July 23<$. — After the usual opening exercises, Rev. George 
E. Reed, of the Hanson Place M. E. Church, spoke from 1 Kings, 
xx., 39, 40, and especially on these words, "Keep this man, if by 
any means he be missing." He maintained that over and above 
the work which Christians must perform in common with other 
people, God had placed human beings somewhat under their 
charge, and Christians are understood to have a corresponding 
responsibility. Multitudes of men might be called " missing " 
men — they have been missing from the house of God, from the 
prayer circle of Christian homes, and from all good influence. 
Christians should, in a measure, hold themselves responsible for 
these missing men. 

An address was also delivered by Rev. Joseph Wild, D. D. 

August Qtk. — The service of last Sabbath was omitted on 
account of the severe storm, but during the week an entirely new 
and water-proof tent was secured, and a bright day attracted a 
very large attendance. At least fifteen hundred people were 
present 



258 UNDER CANVAS. 

The opening address was delivered by Rev. I. ~W\ Hath- 
away. He spoke of the necessity and work of the Young Men's 
Christian Association, and also impressed on the audience the 
necessity of the observance of the Sabbath. Their old Puritan 
Sabbath was already gone in spirit. They had got to recapture 
it. This young Americanism, which would say that Sabbath 
observance was unnecessary, was an old Satanism. 

The choir and congregation sang "Hold the Fort," after 
which Rev. Mr. Eoyes, of Baltimore, delivered an excellent 
address on " Saving Souls." He said it was the grandest employ- 
ment the Christian could engage in. He remarked on how little 
it was appreciated in the church and in the family, in the wor- 
ship and in the social circle. Christians will speak on almost any 
subject, but when it comes to talking about the soul they have 
nothing to say. Soul-saving was the Master's business, and the 
disciple should follow in His footsteps. 

August 13th. — A marked growth of interest in these services 
was evident from increased attendance. After the preliminary 
service of song, the Rev. David Inglis, of the Reformed Church 
on the Heights, was introduced, and took for his text Isa. lv., 1* : 
" Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that 
hath no money ; come ye, buy and eat ; yea, come, buy wine and 
milk without money and without price." His sermon, which was 
a model of clear exposition, and warm and glowing exhortation, 
is reported in this book. 

August 20th. — The attendance on this day exceeded any pre- 
vious service, about two thousand people being present. Camp 
stools in the aisles were provided to increase the seating capacity. 

The preacher of the occasion was Rev. Dr. Alexander Reed, 
formerly a Brooklyn pastor, just returned from a twelve months' 
absence in Europe. He selected Matt, iv., 10, as his text : " Thou 
shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." 
The discourse, which was for the most part devoted to a showing 
up of the weakness of the objections brought against God and 
revealed religion by infidels and skeptics, was highly instructive 
and useful to the Christian who in his every-day life comes in 
contact with scoffers and cavillers. In the course of his argument 
he showed that there is a God who was the Greater of the world; 
who revealed Himelf to man in the Bible, and to whom man is 
responsible. Among the common objections replied to was the 
assertion that religion makes people melancholy. Christians are 
never melancholy on their own account, but melancholy because 
their relatives and friends, and the world around them, are so in- 
sane as -to continue rejecting Christ and the vast and eternal priv- 
ileges which an acceptance of Him implies. 

August 27th. — Every seat on the platform and main floor was 



SOAVING THE SEED. 259 

occupied. Hundreds obtained standing room around the door- 
ways, while many could not get within hearing distance. The 
services were very impressive. Prof. Loos, of Bethany College, 
West Virginia, read the narrative of the conversion of the eunuch 
through Philip (Acts viii, 8), and preached a plain and powerful 
gospel sermon. 

September 3d. — The interest and attendance were fully equal 
to the previous Sabbath. The preacher of the day was Rev. 
Joseph T. Duryea, D.D. His discourse was very earnest and ef- 
fective. Its theme was the yearning of God for the return of the 
lost and wandering sinner. In simple words and with clear-cut 
thought he illustrated and pressed home to the minds of his hear- 
ers the infinite compassion and love of the Heavenly Father. To 
elucidate the truth that God is far more anxious that sinners 
should turn to Him than sinners are to accept His mercy, he re- 
viewed the three parables in Luke xv, — of the lost silver, the lost 
sheep, and, as it should be termed, the lost son. In each of these 
parables God is represented as seeking the lost sinner. The piece 
of silver was inanimate, had no emotions, did not desire to be 
saved. Here in the strongest light we see the exceeding solicitude 
of God to save the sinner, even when the object of that solicitude 
has no corresponding desire whatever. A sheep has a certain 
amount of intelligence. The one in the parable knew its lost con- 
dition, and wanted to return to the fold. Yet how helpless ! A 
farmer once said he knew in what a sad plight it was in, " for a 
sheep is the worst critter to find its way home." No doubt that 
was why it was chosen for this illustration instead of the horse or 
the ox. The sheep was lost. Yet it did all it could. It bleated to 
signify its distress. And if the sinner will only signify his desire 
to return to God, God will rejoice to save him. In this -parable, 
also, we see the brooding care of the Almighty, and His surpass- 
ing anxiety to rescue the erring. The same anxiety is apparent 
in the parable of the lost son. Sure, the father allows the son to 
wallow a while in iniquity, but it is to bring him to his senses, 
and as soon as misery brings the son to repentance, the father 
rushes out to meet him on the way. If that father had sent a 
constable after his son and brought him home by force, his return 
would not have been because he was heart-sick of sin. So God 
has to teach sinners a lesson, and let them become weary of their 
ways. As soon as they do, He will meet them more than half- 
way. The first sign of sorrow for sin, the first throb of love to 
Him in a penitent's breath is a source of new joy — wonderful 
thought — to the great God of heaven. 

September 10th. — Fifteen hundred people were present, and 
an interesting sermon, on " Cause and Effect," was preached by 
Rev. Emory J. Haynes, showing how good and evil both reproduce 



260 UNDER CANVAS. 

and multiply themselves, and impressing the importance of right 
thinking and right-living. 

T. DeWitt Talmage, D.D., was expected to preach on the 
17th of September, but the equinoctial storm was so severe that 
no service could be held. One of the committee who waited on 
the preacher for the day was greeted with the salutation, " The 
Lord reigns" and in announcing the service on the next Sabbath 
morning he remarked, half humorously and half in earnest, that 
"the prince of the power of the air" was not favorable to such 
meetings, which was more appropriate than he knew, as Stephen 
H. Tyng, jr., D.D., who had promised to preach, had already 
sent word that the day was unsuitable for out-door services. Al- 
though again disappointed in the day, about two hundred and 
fifty persons, who had assembled, held a most delightful prayer- 
meeting under the leadership of a city missionary. We antici- 
pated the continuance of services during the autumn, and ex- 
pected that Kev. Dr. Storrs, Rev. Dr. Ty n g and others would 
officiate on successive Sabbaths. But in view of the coolness of 
the weather for out-door meetings, the executive committee de- 
cided to hold a closing service in the Y. M. C. A. hall on Octo- 
ber 1st. There were over a thousand persons present, and after 
the singing by the choir, a delightful sermon was preached by 
Rev. S. H. Tyng, jr., D.D., from the words in Jno. xx., 20 : "He 
showed unto them His hands and His side." 

In addition to the Sabbath services at half past four o'clock, 
regular services have been held since the first week in August, on 
Tuesday and Thursday evenings at eight o'clock, and the Christian 
Union of Temperance Women have also held a meeting on Wed- 
nesday evenings. The regular week-evening services have been 
conducted by city pastors, and consisted of a short sermon and a 
prayer-meeting. In regard to our methods of work, the commit- 
tee have unanimously recognized the necessity of a called and 
qualified ministry in all evangelistic labors, and other Christian 
workers have willingly co-operated as helpers in the evening 
prayer-meetings and the affairs of practical administration. An- 
other feature of all our services has been the marked absence of 
excitement. Believing that the truths of the gospel, brought 
home to the heart by the Holy Spirit, are perfectly adapted and 
divinely appointed as the one and only agency of man's redemp- 
tion from sin and renewal in the Divine image, we have endea- 
vored to have these great and blessed truths preached with purity 
and plainness, pertinence and power, committing the results to 
God, and relying on the immutable promise, "My Word shall not 
return unto me void." 

But although the seed has thus been sown, leaving its quick- 
ening and growth to heavenly influences, we have rejoiced in 



SOWING THE SEED. 261 

some immediate fruits. One most striking instance is that of 
a young man, a professed Christian and teacher in Sabbath 
school, who had long walked in secret darkness and doubt, 
who has now learned the way of faith in Christ more per- 
fectly, and entered into the full joy of the reconciliation. An- 
other noteworthy case is that of a sorrowful one who was greatly 
comforted at an evening meeting through a conversation with the 
minister who conducted it. But we forbear. So many apparent 
results are not real, and so many more real results are not ap- 
parent, that we can never rightly estimate the influence of spiri- 
tual work. !No doubt, among the multitudes who have listened 
to the gospel message at these services, many careless ones have 
been awakened, many penitents have rejoiced in new-found par- 
don, many wanderers have been reclaimed, many sad hearts have 
been consoled. No doubt, there has been here a spiritual reali- 
zation of that beautiful tradition connected with the fountain on 
the road-side from Jerusalem to Bethlehem, which relates that 
as the wise men of the East walked along, wearied and saddened 
because they had lost sight of their guiding star, stooping down 
to drink they beheld reflected on its clear water the heavenly 
light, and at once went on their way rejoicing, and were soon 
bowing and worshipping before the infant Redeemer. No doubt, 
it will be found on the great day, when the secrets of all hearts 
are revealed, that many have here seen the "bright morning 
star," and followed its leadings unto life everlasting. 

We hope that another year Gospel Tents may be erected in 
every large city. Experience proves that it is " casting the net 
on the right side of the ship." Many who have not been to 
church for months and years have, in this way, heard the glad 
tidings of salvation. The novelty, freedom and comfort of these 
services will always attract a multitude. It is one of the signs of 
a true Christianity, as it was of old of the true Christ, " The poor 
have the gospel preached unto them." 



CHAPTER XXX. 



FREE SALVATION. 



SERMON BY THE REV. DAVID INGLTS, D.D., OF THE DUTCH REFORMED 
CHURCH, BROOKLYN, ON SUNDAY, AUGUST 13, 1876. 



" Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no 
money ; come ye, buy and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money 
and without price." — Isa. ~lv., 2. 

In the preceding chapters of this book, the prophet has fore- 
told the coming of the Prince of Peace, and has clearly indicated 
His office as a Prophet, who should proclaim salvation to the lost, 
and as a King, to whom the kings of the earth were to do homage. 
It is not till we come to the fifty-third chapter that we have the 
great mystery unfolded of the three-fold office in the effulgence 
of His glory as the sinner's Saviour. In that chapter, He is pre- 
sented to us as the Priest — and not only as the Priest but as the 
sacrifice; He was to offer Himself without spot to God. He 
bore our griefs and carried our sorrows — the Lord laid on Him 
the iniquity of us all ; He poured out His soul unto death ; He 
was numbered with the transgressors ; He bore the sins of many; 
He made intercession for the transgressors. Yet even this chap- 
ter, which thus foreshadows the humiliation of Jesus Christ in its 
lowest depths, brightens into a proclamation of the triumph which 
should follow, announcing that He should see of the travail of His 
soul and be satisfied. Out of the depths of humiliation, the height 
of glory was to come ; joy out of the suffering, life out of the 
death. Next, the prophet addresses the church, which was then 
in a depressed and afflicted condition, and tells her of the blessed- 
ness that was to result from the great atonement, admonishing to 
enlarge the place of her tent, and stretch forth her curtain and 



FREE SALVATION. 263 

lengthen her cords and strengthen her stakes to make room for 
the great ingatherings of all nations, kindreds and tongues. The 
church's security and blessedness are exhibited, and then suddenly 
we hear this cry, " Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the 
waters, and he that hath no money — come ye, buy and eat ; yea, 
come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." 
Does it not seem as though the prophet had taken his stand in 
faith's ramparts or on one of her high towers, where, looking on 
the one hand, he saw the city of the great King, with all its 
security, its peace, its plenty, its fullness of blessing ; while on the 
other hand, he saw the great wilderness, in which were multitudes 
of men, women and children, perishing beneath the burning rays 
of the sun from which they can find no shelter, perishing of 
hunger, dying of thirst. And the sight is all the more pitiful 
because of the many delusions by which they are cheated. Here 
are some who fancy they see a pool of water gleaming in the 
sunshine. They eagerly rush towards it, only to find it a mirage — a 
delusion — there is nothing there but the burning sand. Others 
eagerly seek some bush, hoping to find some fruit, or at least, some 
shelter there, but it's both fruitless and leafless ; they sink down 
in bitter disappointment and give up all hope. Is not this a true 
picture of those who in this life are Christless, exposed to the 
wrath of God against sin, seeking soul satisfaction where it cannot 
be found, and dying hopelessly at last ? And all the while the 
gates stand wide open day and night ; there is here all that the 
soul needs. Nerved with pity and care, passion and love, the voice 
of gospel invitation cries, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come 
ye to the waters." 

There is something peculiarly touching in the invitations of 
the Word of God, which, if men would but pause and reflect, 
could not fail to make an impression upon their hearts. Just look 
for a little at this one, and say if you can resist. 

I. Consider the figures under which the blessings of the 
gospel are here set forth. The thirsty are invited to come and 
drink — there is tvater. The hungry are invited to come and eat — 
there is bread, nay, there is milk too for the tabes. The weak and 
sad are invited to come for that which will cheer and invigorate 
— there is wine. First, then, of the water for the thirsty. To the 
traveler in the desert whose supplies of food and water have 
failed, the first great necessity is water. The sense of thirst 
swallows up the sensation of hunger. To such a man water is 
life. You may offer him all the gold he ever dreamt of, you 
may present him with the title deeds to an empire, but they are 
worthless ; his cry is " Give me water or I die !" So the invita- 
tion of the gospel speaks to us as children of want. Nor is this 
in its application to sinners to be confined to those who are 



264 UNDEK CANVAS. 

conscious of their spiritual wants — to awakened souls. Thirst — 
the word sweeps the whole circle of humanity — every man thirsts. 
Men are subject to desires for which nature has no provision, 
which the most brilliant success in life, the most varied sources 
of pleasure, the most refined cultivation in nature, with all the 
charms of literature, art, and science, fail to satisfy. The feeling 
of want may be very vague and undefined, but there is a thirst of 
the soul in every man which only the gospel can quench. Water 
has been the familiar symbol of . the redemption provided by 
Jesus Christ, from the earliest ages. This salvation was symbol- 
ized by the stream that gushed from the smitten rock in Horeb. 
David, in the Psalms, has taught the church in all ages, to sing 
"As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul 
after Thee, O God." On the last clay of the great Jewish feast 
of tabernacles, it was the custom of the worshippers to repair in 
a body to the pool of Siloam, where the priests, having drawn 
of the waters which flowed by the side of the rock on which the 
temple stood, they bore it, with every demonstration of joy, to 
the temple, and poured it upon the altar. It was the memorial of 
the smitten rock which ran in the desert like a stream ; and our 
Lord lifting up His voice, cried, "If any man thirst, let him come 
to Me and drink." It was in effect, saying, I am the smitten rock 
of which your fathers drank ; I am the fountain of living waters ; 
I can satisfy every thirsty soul. Yet, again, after Jesus had as- 
cended on high, ere He closed up the written revelation, He 
sent one closing invitation to poor sinners, saying, " The Spirit and 
the bride say, Come ; and let him that heareth say, Come ; and let 
him that is athirst come; and whosoever will, let him take of the 
water of life freely." The import of all this is that Christ pre- 
sents Himself to us, again and again, under this figure as satisfy- 
ing the deepest, most pressing desires of the human soul, can 
relieve man's thirst and refresh him with immortal vigor, In the 
atoning sacrifice of Christ there is that which meets your guilt as 
sinners, and secures free and full forgiveness ; in the promised 
gift of the Spirit there is that which meets your impurity and 
secures the renewal of the soul. Here is the only water which 
can quench your soul-thirst. This to you is life or death. Re- 
fuse it and you perish ; take it, and it will be in you a well of living 
water springing up to everlasting life. 

Then there is bread as well as water, for we are exhorted to 
come and eat ; nay, more, that the wants of the youngest may be 
met, there is milk for babes. Travelers tell us that when the 
thirst has been allayed the sensation of hunger returns. So there 
is the sense of spiritual hunger which succeeds the allaying of 
spiritual thirst. There is danger of the soul dying of hunger. 
Here, then, is milk for babes in Christ, and bread of heaven for 



FREE SALVATION. 265 

the hungry. We know that the milk is the Word, the bread is 
simply a symbol for the doctrines and promises that centre in 
Christ crucified. What is wanted is never simply knowledge of 
the truths of the Bible, bnt experimental knowledge — the Word 
read, and meditated, and received into the heart by faith. A 
man may look on a well-spread table, admire and admire its full 
provisions, but it will not feed him unless he eat thereof. A man 
may be able to explain the different articles of food, and to ex- 
patiate on their excellent qualities, but if he is to be strengthened 
thereby he must himself partake. So a man may admire the 
doctrines of grace — he may even be able to expound and defend 
them — but he will not be built up in faith and holiness unless he 
receives them into his own soul by faith. Dear friends, you 
must not only be students of the Bible, you must study your 
Bibles on your knees. Humble men have learned more of Divine 
truth on their knees than great scholars with all their applica- 
tion. 

Again, there is not only water, and bread, and milk. There is 
wine. There is not only nourishment, there is joy and refresh- 
ment. Wine is sometimes used in scripture in a sense which 
leads the sacred writers to condemn its use ; at other times it is 
used in a good sense; and in this last case it is always the 
symbol of joy — " Wine which maketh glad the heart of man." 
The supply of nature craving for water and food is not all of 
man's wants. Bare life — mere existence — is not all of a true 
human life. It is for happiness he desires to live. To be satis- 
fied with mere life and the gratification of the bodily appetites is 
brutal. The gospel offers you wine, joy, blessedness. There is 
no real abiding blessedness except in the gospel. The joy of the 
worldly man is like the shallow pool in the early spring, winch 
presents to the eye all the appearance of a fine sheet of water, 
but as the season advances the heat of the sun dries it up, and 
there is nothing there but the hard baked earth. The joy of the 
Christian is like the ocean, full many a fathom deep ; it is never 
dried up. In times of deepest sorrow, when all earthly com- 
forts and helpers fail, the Christian joy flows on, because it has 
its spring in the ascended Saviour, beyond the reach of change 
or changes. We, as Christians, do sometimes bear false witness 
for Christ — we seem sad and downcast, as if we had no God, no 
Jesus Christ, no Holy Ghost, no heaven; but every believer is 
bound to justify his faith in Christ by a life of blessedness and 
love — to show that it is a reality, and that the gospel is a power 
of good to himself and others. In inviting you to take of these 
blessings of the gospel, we offer you the new wine of the king- 
dom — the joy of the Holy Ghost — an ever-flowing fountain of 
holy beauty, and holy joy, and holy strength. 



266 UNDER CANVAS. ■ 

II. — The manner and nature of the invitation. — Here the 
first thing is its earnestness, as expressed by the word "Ho." It is 
as though one in a company of desert travelers had been able to 
press on ahead of his companions, and had suddenly come upon a 
spring of water in the wilderness. He quenches his own thirst, 
he bathes his burning brow in the cooling stream, and then he 
thinks of the companions who are perishing for thirst, and hastens 
to tell them of the water he has found. And how does he do 
this ? Does he stand by the flowing water, and in a tone of care- 
lessness say, " Here is water ; come and take it if you will ?" 
Perish the thought. His own soul stirred by gratitude for his 
deliverance, and by joy in the refreshment and vigor that have 
come to him, and moved with pity for those who are ready to 
perish, all the more tender because but a few minutes before he 
was as they are, he lifts up his voice, he cries aloud, so that the 
most distant may hear, so that if any have sank into lethargy 
they may be aroused, so lie cries, " Ho ! Ho ! Ye thirsty ones, 
come to the waters." So we, whether as ministers, or parents, or 
Sabbath- school teachers, or in the still more private ministrations 
of friend with friend, must tell to others of the Saviour we have 
found, with earnestness and power; not as though we were 
repeating a thrice told tale, but as delivering a message that is as 
urgent as it is blessed. Let the sinner's need of salvation waken 
all your concern and let gratitude to God for your own salvation 
aerve you to all earnestness. 

The next point is its universality. " Ho, every one that thirst- 
eth, come." Yes ; but you say, it is only for those who thirst ; 
Slid I am not conscious of that thirst. It is only for the awaken- 
ed, and I am not awakened. It has already been explained, that 
che thirst here spoken of is that universal sense of want of which 
every soul is conscious. Look for a moment at the next verse, 
and mark how the prophet expostulates with those who are obvi- 
ously unawakened, and you will see that this invitation is universal 
and comprehensive. To the sinner as such, the invitation belongs. 
It is not only universal, it is also distinctly individual and minute. 
It is not " Ho, all that thirst," but " Ho, every one that thirst- 
eth." Everyone comprehends the individual; you must not lose 
yourself in the crowd. God's Spirit is taking you apart, and 
dealing with you one by one, pressing home upon you your guilt 
and danger as a sinner, and inviting you personally to take of this 
salvation. 

Ill — It is free. — It is unhampered by any condition or qual- 
ification. You may here call my attention to the fact that the 
invitation is "come and buy." "What then must we bring in our 
hand wherewith to pay for this salvation ? Notice yet again, that 
those who are invited to come are those who have no money, and 



FREE SALVATION. 26T 

that you are invited to buy " without money and without price." 
This is not the way in which men do their business. They invite 
those who have money, those whose credit is good to come and 
purchase of them. They insist on the money for value received. 
But here those who are invited to buy are the poor, the bankrupt, 
and the terms on which they are to buy are without money, with- 
out price of any kind. Strange paradox ! What is the meaning? 
It means not simply that you may have it without money and 
without price, but that you cannot have it on any other terms. 
You must come as poor and needy, bringing no price in your hand ; 
giving up all confidence in your own righteousness, your promises 
of amendment, your vows, your penances, your prayers, and take 
salvation as a free gift. It has been bought; Jesus paid for it all 
long, long ago. As for you, it may be that your self -righteousness 
is even now your great hindrance. Oh, that God would show you 
your own sin as He sees it, and then you would be willing to take 
this salvation as it is freely offered you in the gospel. In the 
name of Christ, I invite every man, woman and child who hears 
me, to take Jesus as their Saviour, and to rejoice in Him as truly 
as if Jesus came to each of them, and taking him or her by the 
hand, said, " I am thy Saviour, wilt thou have me % " 



CHAPTER XXXI. 



GLAD TIDINGS BY YOUNG SOLDIERS. 



THE SUMMER REVIVAL UNDER CANVAS CONDUCTED BY YOUNG MEN, 

MEMBERS OF THE REV. DR. T. DE WITT TALMAGE'S 

CHURCH, BROOKLYN. 



On Sunday evening, June 4th, 1876, three young men, mem- 
bers of Dr. Talmage's congregation, started home together 
through a heavy rain-storm. On the way the conversation 
turned on active Christian work. Stopping under an awning, 
Mr. George S. Mersereau, one of the three, told of work at Avon 
Springs, S". Y., which had been richly blessed, and his compan- 
ions, nred by the story, wished for a like opportunity. It was 
suggested by Mr. Mersereau that Prospect Park, Brooklyn, was a 
good field. The next day Mr. Griffith applied to Mr. John Y. 
: Culver for a permit to use the music stand and grounds. He 
seemed favorably disposed, but said President Stranahan would 
have to be seen, and an appointment was made for noon of the 
next day. Mr. Stranahan was visited, when he courteously but 
firmly refused the permit, giving as reasons the refusing of similar 
privileges to the Y. M. C. A., young Bible readers, and tract 
distributors; the desire to avoid all sectarian agitation, and the 
clamor of politicians. 

Private ground at the junction of Eighth and Flatbush Avenues 
was then secured, and in two weeks from its inception Brooklyn's 
First Gospel Tent crowned the green, breezy slope near the great 
fountain, the red cross of the Master floating proudly over it. 
The tent was 80 by 40 feet, with a capacity of about 1,000. 
The legend, 



GLAD TIDING 6 '15 V YOUNG SOLDIERS. 2G9 



GOSPEL TENT. 

JESUS INVITES YOU NEAR. 



on a large strip of canvas faced the thoroughfare ; and many ener- 
getic and consecrated Christian laymen co-operated zealously in 
the new work. 

The first service was a most gratifying success. Printed 
slips, containing several of the well-known hymns from Mr. 
Sankey's collection, were distributed among the audience, and 
after a half hour's preliminary singing, led by Mr. .Robert Ed- 
wards on the organ (generously furnished, free of cost, by Mr. 
Horace Waters, the manufacturer), the services opened with a 
prayer by Mr. H. R. Ford, of New York, that God would send 
His Holy Spirit to bless in the conversion of souls. Messrs. 
¥m. Hammond, Cogswell, Garford, Waters and Edwards follow- 
ed with brief, fervent appeals, the last named telling the story of 
his own conversion in a simple, pathetic manner. Bred a sailor, 
and leading a life of drunkenness and hopeless sin, he, with two 
boon companions, was passing a downtown mission-room, when 
hearing some singing, and music being a passion with him, he, 
much to the disgust and annoyance of his chums, resolved on 
going in. The speaker was exhorting his hearers to flee the 
wrath to come, and depicted the sad estate of the sinner so faith- 
fully that it made a great impression on the mind of the sailor. 
A few evenings after, on his way to the Atlantic Beer Garden 
with some companions, he again passed the mission and was 
impelled to go in. The rear seats were filled, and ere he knew 
it he found himself seated down on the front seat, within arm's 
reach of the preacher, a post of honor he was far from coveting. 
The preacher seemed to talk directly to him, and at the conclu- 
sion of his address left the platform and knelt down by him 
and prayed. Then touching the astounded Edwards lightly with 
his elbow he said, " Bray, brother." No convenient chasm open- 
ing in the floor, the perspiring sailor remained silent on his knees, 
where he had dropped because it seemed the fashion there, until 
a second and vigorous dig in the ribs from the annoying elbow 
sent him into a tremor. " Pray, brother," came again the im- 
portunate whisper; a third and very vigorous shock from the 
preacher's elbow brought from the sinful sailor's trembling lips 
the briefest and most effective prayer he ever uttered, "Lord 
have mercy upon me, a miserable sinner !" — a prayer that 
brought him a speedy answer. 

An inquiry-meeting was held at the conclusion of the tent 
service, at which there were many anxious souls and a blessed 
arousal. 

The Moody and Sankey collection of gospel hymns was there- 



270 UNDER CANVAS. 

after adopted, a large number of the smaller books being pur- 
chased and distributed. Of the second service the New York 
Witness said : — 

" At 4.30 yesterday afternoon the Brooklyn tent, situated on 
the Flatbush Avenue entrance to Prospect Park, was opened for 
the second Sabbath service. The structure is able to hold about 
1 ,000 people, but has not as yet seating accommodation for more 
than half that number. The inclosure was very airy and cool, so 
that there was nothing, from a physical point of view, which 
could possibly detract from the value of the spiritual treat af- 
forded. Several well-known hymns from the Sankey collection 
were sung during the first twenty minutes, after which the regu- 
lar service was begun by the singing of "All Hail the Power of 
Jesus' Name." Mr. B. M. Smith offered the opening prayer. 

" Mr. Ide built his brief discourse on the interview between 
Paul and King Agrippa, especially on the words of the latter — 
'Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.' In his general 
remarks he said that he had often spoken before in a tent, but 
never in a Gospel Tent. This was the sort of work in which 
Christian young men should be engaged. Their business compan- 
ions might say they were crazy, as they did when the Greene 
street prayer-meeting was started. In that place a glorious work 
was done in the saving of souls, and they expected a similar, 
or, perhaps, greater blessing as the result of their labors here. 
The salvation of souls was no crazy undertaking, but was, on the 
contrary, a work of philanthropy and wisdom. 

"Mr. Edwards sang 'Almost Persuaded' as a solo. This 
gentleman is a talented vocalist, and a perfect master of the in- 
strument. Being a Swede by birth, his pronunciation of the 
words is a little faulty. He has, however, overcome this diffi- 
culty to a great extent within the past few months. 

" In response to Mr. Ide's call seven arose for prayer, who 
were remembered at the throne of grace by Messrs. Horace 
"Waters, Reeves and Edwards. At the close of the exercises 
twenty persons remained to converse with the brethren." 

The third meeting was, in every way, as encouraging as the 
first and second. With a large congregation, and a plain, earn- 
est speaker, in the person of Mr. B. F. Cogswell, nothing was 
wanting to make the service a success but the Spirit of God, and 
that was abundantly manifest in the many anxious enquirers at 
the close. 

The New York Herald of the succeeding Sunday, contained 
this record : 

" The Brooklyn Gospel Tent has proved a decided success. 
The audiences of the better classes are larger and the interest is 
intensifying. Thirteen inquirers rose at the initial meeting, nine- 



GLAD TIDINGS BV YOUNG SOLDlEJiS. 271 

teen at the second. To-day there will be a praise meeting at half- 
past four P. M. The young laymen at the head of the movement 
have formed an association, with B. F. Cogswell, President ; G. 
S. Mersereau, Treasurer ; W. P. Griffith, Secretary. Like 
Moody, they abhor debt and have thus far avoided it. 

" This evening the Tabernacle Lay College will begin sup- 
plementary meetings in the same tent at eight o'clock. The 
Young Men's Christian Association begin their tent services next 
Sunday, having selected ground a few blocks south of the Brook- 
lyn Gospel Tent." 

The Lay College Preaching Association, President Eli Shep- 
pard in the van, as usual, went energetically into service. There 
was no lack of speakers or of interest, and the Holy Spirit was 
manifest in continuous conversions, God was glorified and Christ's 
standard advanced in all these services. 

There w T ere but two rainy Sundays during the course of 14: 
weeks, the first on July 23d, the second, the final Sunday, Sep- 
tember 17th. Of the former the Witness reported • 

" There was preaching under difficulties yesterday afternoon 
in the Gospel Tent, Flatbush and Eighth avenues, Brooklyn. In 
consequence of the constant downpour of the rain there was no 
service held in the large tent under the control of the Y. M. C. 
A. It was at first contemplated to dismiss the small congrega- 
tion w T ho had assembled in the smaller tent, but Mr. "W. P. Grif- 
fith, who takes a deep interest in the work, was on hand and re- 
solved to inaugurate a service. He addressed the meeting at 
some length, after which the 11th hymn, " I have a Saviour ; He's 
pleading in glory," was sung. The leader then invited any of the 
brethren who felt so disposed to say a few words. 

" Mr. J. H. Barron responded by rising in his place and deliver- 
ing a solemn address on the uncertainty of life, urging on all the 
necessity of accepting Christ as a fitting preparation for death. 
Brother Barron then offered prayer. 

" The meeting was closed with the doxology. It may be re- 
marked that, notwithstanding the disagreeable weather and the 
apparent lack of preparation on the part of the speakers, the ser- 
vice was a highly interesting one, and was evidently blessed to 
the edification of those present." 

(Of the latter storm it is sufficient to say here that every indi- 
cation being equinoctial, the tent was struck early in the morning, 
and put away, the weather having become so inclement that 
further services were considered injurious sanitarily.) 

And now came the time for closing the tent services, two 
months being the period for which the meetings had been 
planned. The services of that day and the action taken are best 
told in the Witness* report ; 



2*1% UNDER CANVAS. 

"At the Gospel Tent, corner of Eighth and Flatbush avenues, 
the services were under the conduct of Mr.Wm. Hammond. There 
was a larger andience than for some weeks. After the prelimi- 
nary exercises Mr. Hammond read the two concluding verses of 
the fourth chapter of Second Corinthians, taking for the keynote 
of the service that " the things which are seen are temporal, but 
the things which are not seen are eternal." He alluded to men 
of colossal fortunes, like Stewart and Yanderbilt, who found 
wealth not all of life. The winds will sigh over their graves 
the same as over the poor man's. Mr. Reeves spoke of the classes 
of perishing we need to rescue. O. W. Garford and Mr. Hadden 
then spoke, the latter alluding to the work at the Raymond Street 
Jail. 

" Mr. G. S. Mersereau then stated that the time — two months — 
for which the meetings were set, had now terminated, and as there 
was a great desire expressed for an extension, there would be a 
vote taken. A rising vote proved almost unanimous, financial 
help was guaranteed, and it was decided to continue the services 
to the first of September. 

" The evening service, under the auspices of the Tabernacle 
Lay Preaching Association, and led by Mr. W. Hamilton, was 
largely attended. The singing was led by Mr. E. P. Ide, and 
was joined in with much vigor. The theme of the evening was 
the query : " What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole 
world and lose his own soul ? " and upon it the several speakers, 
students of the Lay College, based a number of earnest addresses. 
They were attentively listened to, and the entire audience re- 
mained for a short season of prayer after the regular proceedings. 
The meeting was in general one of the most encouraging of the 
series." 

The ninth Sunday's services were led by G. S. Mersereau in the 
afternoon, and by W. P. Griffith in the evening. According to 
the Witness 7 report, at the former service the barren fig tree 
was the theme. The leader told of a friend met on the ferry- 
boat on his way to the theatre, who in conversation confessed that 
his life had been unsatisfactory to himself, and said he would like 
to be a Christian. He represented the fruitless tree. Mr. Grif- 
fith dwelt upon the thought that Christ expected us all to be 
fruitful. Appeals for earnest seekers to rise for prayers were 
answered at both services, and the interest was kept up even after 
their close. The evening meeting was of an informal character, 
and earnest addresses were made by a number of Christian work- 
ers present with visible effect. The tent was crowded, and the 
attention marked throughout. 

The only collection taken up at any of the services was taken 
Up in the evening, and the system was dropped for good. 






GLAD TIDINGS BY YOUNG SOLDIERS. 273 

The tenth Sunday's services — leader, Win. Peck Smith — were 
by all odds the best of the series, in the number of souls saved, 
and the vigor and spirit of the addresses. The tent was thronged, 
and crowds surrounded the door unable to gain admission. The 
feature of the day was an address by Dr. M. L. Rossvally, the 
converted Jew, who thought salvation vital, though many did not 
accept Christ so readily as he had. Seven months ago, after 
forty years of blasphemy, of disbelief, and of drunkenness and 
vice, he found Christ. The doctor told of a young man who, 
when approached, threw his hat in his face ; didn't want a Jew to 
ask him if he was a Christian. He and his sister were now happy 
in Christ. It took twelve nights to finish the work. 

The evening service was in every way successful. The tent 
was crowded, and the proceedings of an animated and interesting 
order. Mr. J. IT. Little presided, and addresses were made by a 
number of Lay College students on the theme, " The wages of sin 
is death." An after prayer-meeting was held, to which a large 
portion of the audience remained, and earnest supplication was 
offered for a present penitent and for other cases in whose behalf 
prayer was asked. 

The next Sunday's services were most interesting and largely 
attended. O. W. Garford conducted the service. The sin of un- 
belief and the rewards of belief were the chief topics. An in- 
quiry meeting was held after the service, with the best results. 
The evening service was one of the best yet held. The tent was 
well filled, and as many more stood outside, listening very atten- 
tively. The service was conducted by Mr. Eli Sheppard, presi- 
dent ctf the Lay College Preaching Association. 

The inquiry room meeting at the close was well attended, 
many of the Christian workers speaking. 

A Sabbath school was next organized; a large movable black- 
board was procured, the children of the adjacent Home for the 
Destitute were invited and came, and thence until the final service, 
there was held in this tent one of the best organized and most 
orderly Sabbath schools of which the City of Churches could 
boast, Messrs. Hadden and Waters superintending, and Mr. and 
Mrs. Bronson helping most effectively. The following is the 
Witness' report of the succeeding Sunday's services : — 

"At the Young Men's Gospel Tent, there was an audience that 
overflowed the tent and thronged about the doors. Messrs. Han- 
cock and Garford made brief and very effective addresses, the 
former preferring to speak of Jesus' love, but telling eloquently 
of the Christian's anticipations. 

" Mr. Peck Smith spoke of a visit to Prospect Park, and of see- 
ing barrels of liquors dispensed to the everlasting ruin of some, 
while the Park Commissioners had refused to the young men of 



274 UNDER CANVAS. 

this tent the right to preach the gospel there. An inquiry meet- 
ing was held afterward, which was blessed to a great many souls. 

" The evening service was well attended. Mr. W. Bryant pre- 
sided. A number of earnest addresses were made upon the 
theme : " Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." The 
importance of at once accepting salvation was faithfully presented 
and emphasized. An after prayer-meeting was held, to whicli 
many remained." 

Then came what proved the final service, as reported in the 
Argus. 

" At the Young Men's Tent facing on Flatbush avenue, the 
services yesterday afternoon were conducted by Mr. W. P. Grif- 
fith, of the New York World. After the usual introductory ex- 
ercises, that gentleman delivered a sermon based on the first half 
of the 55th chapter of Isaiah. He stated that he intended to dis- 
cuss the question, " Who may come to Christ ? " In commencing, 
he claimed that man must come with all his heart and all his soul 
and give up all things. The speaker then referred to his own ex- 
perience, telling of the peculiar temptations under which he 
labored, and stating that as soon as he made up his mind to give 
up everything for Christ, he gained peace. 

" Mr. W. C. Hadden told of a young man who had been con- 
verted in Raymond street jail and who was now in the South 
working for Christ. It was possible to work for the Saviour 
under all circumstances and in every place. 

" After a few remarks by Mr. Feck Smith, the meeting was 
dismissed with the benediction." 

The enterprise steadily grew in magnitude and power from 
the first. The trio whose first ambition it was to address a hastily 
gathered crowd, extempore, with a dry-goods box or huge stone for 
a platform, and the green sward for an auditorium, found them- 
selves graciously lifted out of obscurity, and given help at every 
time of need, and with thousands for audiences where they had 
hardly dared hope for hundreds. Adapting the Cromwellian 
maxim to their own case, the key-note of their success was, earnest 
work for Christ, and unfaltering trust in the Omnipotent. Imme- 
diately upon the close of the tent services the young men were 
offered free use of Liberty Hall, corner of Gates and Nostrand 
avenues, in which to continue the meetings, and though their 
arduous summer campaign might seem to warrant a rest, they 
made arrangements and on Sunday, October 2d, began a 
series of evangelistic services which bid fair to bear rich fruit for 
the Master. 

The harvest is ready for the sickle, in New York, in Brooklyn, 
in all quarters of God's universe ; the Lord of the harvest prom- 
ises us that the precious seed of the Word once sown shall not 



GLAD TIDINGS BY YOUNG SOLDIERS. 275 

return to Him void, and all our experience attests the truth that 
though 

Sown in the darkness or sown in the light, 
Sown in our weakness or sown in our might, 

Gathered in time or eternity, 
Sure, ah, sure, will the harvest he. 

THE INQUIRY ROOM WORK. 

We give our readers a few items of this important part of all 
evangelistic labor, and prefer that the particulars as furnished 
to us speak in their own words. 

Soon after the services began, young N , passing on his 

way to the Park, stopped. He was invited and came in, became 
interested, and helped us very much physically. I asked him if 
he was a Christian ; " No ; " " Why aren't you ? " "Well, I don't 
know." I prayed for him very earnestly, in secret and publicly, 
and got others to do so. At the conclusion of one of our arousing 
meetings, as I glanced round the tent, I was delighted to see 

modest young N — '■ , not caring who saw him, right out upon 

the platform, on his knees, praying as if his life depended on it. 
Last Communion Sabbath, I was blessed by having him beside me, 
at the Master's table. 



At the first service, I was stationed at the tent entrance to 
invite passers-by to enter. I saw what appeared to be a family- 
party on their way to the Park. I stepped out as they paused, 
and persuaded them to come in. They attended regularly there- 
after, bringing many others with them — mostly their countrymen 
— Swedes. I would not like to say how many were converted. 
I know of several, and all were greatly blessed. 



Two young men came, through curiosity; were deeply 
affected by the addresses, some of the speakers being young men 
known to them, but at the conclusion started down town. M — 's 
attention was called to them. He went after them, though they 
had gone some distance, and persuaded them to come back for a 
talk. Before they left, one resolved to come out on the Lord's 
side, and within a week, the other followed his comrade. 



Young M stood at the door of the tent, a well-dressed, 

manly-looking fellow. He reluctantly entered and would not sit 
down. When anxious souls were requested to rise or hold up 

their hands, a great many responded, among others M . I 

walked right over and warmly grasped his hand. He wanted to 
procrastinate. With my own eyes full of tears and my voice 
husky with glad emotions, I besought him to finish the work then. 



276 UNDER CANVAS. 

Finally, lie consented to go forward. W was talking 

very earnestly to the inquirers, and in a few minutes w T e all got 
down upon our knees and engaged in prayer. A solemn moment 
or two elapsed, and then M broke out into an earnest sup- 
plication for himself. 



A sweet-faced Catholic young lady, wanted to " get nearer to 
Jesus." Her desire was gratified, after several visits to the tent 
and to other meetings at the Lay College. 



While walking round the tent one dark night, I stumbled over 
a man lying prone upon the earth, with his head by an opening in 
the canvas, drinking in all that was said. He proved to be a veri- 
table prodigal, and if not feeding on husks, at least the next thing 
to them. He refused to come inside, because of his rags, but 
finally came. A subscription was taken up, to provide him with 
food, shelter and clothes, and the poor fellow was sent on his way 
rejoicing, with the glad tidings of the gospel ringing in his ears ! 
God grant it was a soul cure as well as a body cure. 

Here is a story of conversion told at one of the meetings. 
The speaker had been a very wild young man, skeptical and deri- 
sive in religious discussions. One day, a white-haired old gentle- 
man, one of our best workers, after hearing a violent tirade against 

Christianity from R , put his arm about him, and said, " I 

love you ; Christ loves you more than I do. I'm going to pray 
for you between 11 and 12 o'clock to-night." The remark rang 
in his ears all day and night. He found no rest or peace till that 
prayer was answered in his conversion. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 



WINDOWS OF THE WORD 

FOR 

SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHERS. 



ADDRESS BY THE REV. STEPHEN H. TYNG, JR., D.D., IN THE GOSPEL TENT, ON 
MONDAY, JUNE 19TH, 1876, ON THE USE OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN 
SUNDAY-SCHOOL TEACHING, AND HOW TO MAKE SCRIP- 
TURE ILLUSTRATE ITSELF. 



Fellow Sunday-school teachers : 

Our office is not fulfilled when we have led children to Christ. 
Doubtless that is the first and should ever be made the most 
prominent object of our instruction. But when the little ones have 
learned to trust their salvation and their strength to Jesus, they 
still remain under our guidance, and the Sunday-school class be- 
comes the training class in the new life. It seems to me often 
that this relation of the Sunday-school teacher is held in abeyance, 
and that the full power of the class is not manifested as it should 
be. If you will recognize your calling to be the parallel of the 
pastor, not simply in the ingathering but in the upbuilding of 
souls, you will have the idea that I wish to communicate at the 
opening. This being understood, our office as Sunday-school 
teacher has to do with the whole nature of the child confided to 
our care, and especially with that mental nature by which they 
are to apprehend the truth and be built up in their most holy 
faith. We are not simply to communicate lessons which may be 
held by a memory, sensitive, retentive and ready for use ; we are 
not simply to open up the passages of God's word and analyze them, 
so that the child may at the moment receive the truth ; but we 
are so to educate that little mind confided to our training that it 
shall be able in all after life to study for itself. It is a great 



278 UNDER CANVAS. 

thing in a family when a child begins to feed itself; when the 
nurse is dismissed from the high chair, and the bib taken from 
the front of the child, and the fork succeeds the spoon. 
And it is a great thing for a Sunday-school teacher to bring a 
child, by a process of training, into such a use of its own facul- 
ties that it may feed itself upon the Word of God. 

One of the most important faculties of the human mind, to 
be used in the study of God's Word, is the imagination ; and 
yet the value of that power is terribly depreciated among us. 
The sentimental trash which is supposed to appeal to the imagi- 
nation has succeeded in demeaning the reputation of the imagi- 
nation itself ; and to say that a person is imaginative is almost 
tantamount to saying he lies. He has an undue and distorted 
use of a faculty upon which God has placed the greatest honor, 
and which is second to no other faculty of the human mind, in 
the study of God's Word. What can you understand of the 
marvelous imagery of the book of Daniel; or of the wonderful 
prophecies of the book of Ezekiel ? How can you know the ap- 
pearance of that glorious One who walketh still in the midst of 
the golden candlesticks % How can you conceive of the judg- 
ment day, when all shall stand before the great white throne, 
and be called upon to give an account of the deeds done in the 
flesh, unless imagination have its place in the comprehension of 
the Word of God ? It is vital in the understanding of the revel- 
ation of God. 

All illustration is only an appeal to the imagination, for the 
imagination is that faculty which perceives the inner truth of 
things that are seen. It stands before a little violet, and sees 
humility in its growth. It looks up to yon glorious sun, and sees 
majesty in its sphere. Every sensible object has in itself the 
germs of things which are abstract and spiritual. When we 
have therefore to teach children so much that cannot be seen, 
the best way in which to do it, is to lead them up to the truth 
through things that do appear, or things that appeal to their 
fancy. Children are very crude in their imagination. This is 
evinced by their habit of exaggeration. I know a boy, who, 
whenever he has seen one cat in the garden, comes in and says 
he has seen ten thousand cats. His imagination has generalized 
on that one cat to a terrible extent. Crudity of the power is 
evinced by that one expression. And yet every one of our 
teachers understands perfectly that the education of that faculty is 
what is aimed at, so that they may get above the forms and pictures 
presented to them, and seize upon the truths of God's word. I 
know not what is the use of object lessons in the Sunday-school 
work, unless it be the training of imagination in the apprehension 
of God's Word. 



WINDOAVS OF THE WORD. 279 

Illustrations are the part of our work that especially 
call out the use of this faculty. They are the windows that 
let in the light ; the more transparent they are, the better they 
are. The less you remember of the illustration itself, and the more 
of the truth it is intended to express, the better is the illustra- 
tion. Children who come home from the Sunday-school to retail 
the stories they have heard, have not been benefited, but rather 
injured by the illustration. Children who have received the 
truth through their fancy and now hold it in their memory, but 
have forgotten the agency by which they received it, testify to 
the skill of their teacher. The transparency of the illustration 
is its great value. Spurgeon has a little book, that he calls 
"Feathers for Arrows." It is filled with illustrations; just as 
the feather at the end of the arrow, so is the illustration con- 
nected with the truth. Its use is in making a straight course for 
the arrow ; and when the barb of the arrow has fixed itself, the 
feather ceases to be of consequence, and may be cast aside as a 
valueless thing. Thus the Sunday-school teacher who has a 
divine truth to teach, may use an illustration addressing the 
fancy, and so reach the memory and the moral nature. If he 
is to let in light he must have some distinct truth to illuminate 
and he must have some light to let in. He must know the great 
object of all instruction : Jesus ! Jesus ! Jesus ! And he must 
work in the power of the Holy Ghost, who alone is able to 
enlighten the mind and sanctify the soul. 

All this I take for granted. Now let me give two or three 
rules to these Sunday-school teachers, in reference to the use or 
illustrations in Sunday-school teaching. First, then, let them he 
gathered from the Word of God itself. 

Those of you who are familiar with the writers of the seven- 
teenth century, will bear me witness that their habit was to use 
scripture to illustrate scripture, and also that they had a wide ac- 
quaintance with the Word of God. That was the book of all 
others to them, and their acquaintance was gained by this habit 
of bringing all scripture in focus upon every scripture. 

We are terribly forgetful in this respect. Old Dr. Benjamin 
Keach wrote a book on the emblems and symbols of the Word 
of God, and developed each one of them in full. Everything 
that is in this Book is there by Divine choice. There is not a fact 
in the history of the Old Testament that God did not put in this 
Book with a purpose. Every fact may be used for the enforce- 
ment of some positive truth. Look, then, for your illustrations 
in the Word of God. Use the life of Joseph, of David, of 
Daniel, and of the three children. Use the successes and failures 
recorded here to enforce your lessons. 

Then I would like to direct your attention to the scriptural 



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similes that can be used. There is nothing so direct, in address- 
ing the mind of a child, as the similes of scripture. Take, for in- 
stance, some illustration : you are speaking of the judgment ; 
where can you find anything better to illustrate it than the " thief 
in the night ? " Speaking of the service of Christ ; can you find 
anything that more admirably expresses it than the yoke : " Take 
My yoke upon you." Jesus has one part, the disciple, having 
the other, puts his head in the end of the yoke. You are 
speaking of difficulties that beset a child of rebellion ; can you 
find anything better to illustrate it, than what Jesus said to Saul 
of Tarsus, " It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks," as the ox 
against the very goad that is used to send him forward. These 
are similes, and we should use them as illustrations of the truths 
we teach 

Then take the parables, those matchless pictures of Christ's 
own wisdom, which go to interpret the best of everything on this 
earth. How beautifully are they brought out in all their details, 
and yet all calculated to carry home the one truth ! There are 
some people that would make the parables go on all fours ; find 
meanings in every little detail. The parables are to illustrate 
some truth, and the details are grouped around the incident to 
help remember that. I heard a discourse from a doctor of divinity, 
on the parable of the man who went down from Jerusalem and 
fell among thieves, in which he made a symbol of each detail. 
Those that passed by on the other side were representatives of the 
other dispensation ; they could not help him. The good Samaritan 
was the Lord Jesus Christ. He poured in oil and wine ; these were 
the two sacraments. He carried him into the inn ; that was the 
church. The servants there were the ministers ; the two pieces 
of silver, that he gave them, were the salaries of the ministers — 
I thought that was the most natural part of the whole. And so 
he went all through the story. A friend of mine was with 
me, and asked me how I liked it. I told him there was only one 
trouble; he had left out a very important part. "Why,what do you 
mean ? " said he. " Why," I told him, " he didn't tell us any- 
thing about that beast ; and as it must have been the same kind 
of a beast which our Lord rode upon into Jerusalem, there were 
probably personal reasons why he didn't want to mention that." 
There are ways of using parables, which will make them teach 
anything you wish. A man came to me one day, and said he 
wanted to instruct me in the Word of God. Well, I told him, 
that is what I want above all things. He began with the parable of 
the hid treasure ; I saw what he was driving at. His idea was that 
the hid treasure was the church ; the field was to be the world. 
The person that bought the field was the Lord Jesus Christ ; by- 
and-bye, He was going to dig up the treasure, and the church 



WINDOWS OF THE WORD. 281 

would come out. As soon as he had finished, I said "Is it not 
strange ! Something seems a little dishonest about that parable : 
He went and bought that field, knowing there was a large treasure 
in it, of which the owner knew nothing, and yet he did not tell 
him of it." He saw at once that the point of his parable was 
gone ; he was using the parable to teach a falsehood. Use the 
parables as Mr. Moody does ; when he tells the story of Daniel, 
it is just as if you were reading from a newspaper ; just as if you 
had gone down to Wall Street, and met the treasurer of some 
great corporation there. Daniel is just as real. That is the 
way to bring out the illustrations of scripture, and especially the 
parables of our Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ when on earth, 
was continually using scripture parables and Old Testament 
quotations; even when He hung upon the cross, His very cry 
was a quotation from the Old Testament scripture, and now that 
He has ascended to heaven, and has sent us the revelations of 
John, they are full of Old Testament quotations. Draw your 
illustrations from the Word of God. 

Secondly, I would have you fashion your illustrations after 
the Word of God. To those which are your own and original give 
the form of the Word of God. One of the books that has 
lived, and the only book, says Lord Macaulay, that beginning at 
the cabin has worked its way into the palace, is Bunyan's Pilgrim's 
Progress. The paper and the press-work of the first edition 
were for the humblest condition of men, and yet, if you will read 
Macaulay's essay on Pilgrim's Progress, you will find that he de- 
clares that, for every purpose of a teacher, the language and com- 
position of that book are beyond compare. Why ? Because it is 
fashioned on the Old and New Testaments of God's truth. Take 
the emblems of Gotthold ; they are fashioned after the likeness 
of God's Word. Recall that little parable of the piece of clay 
lying for a long time by the side of a tea rose. When it was 
taken away from the side of the rose it was filled with the per- 
fume that had come from its companion. It is a parable after the 
Likeness of those in the Word of God, seizing the most common 
place experience and turning it into truth. What teaches better 
the relation of our souls to Jesus ? All our fragrance comes 
from our companionship with him. The more closely we 
cling to His side, the more are we sweet savoured unto 
God, and the more are we pleasant to our fellow man. Take 
John Paul Pichter's parables ; we remember the one where he 
tells us that, as he walked in his garden in the morning, he saw a 
little pearl — a glistening dew-drop. Towards evening, he walked 
in his garden again and searched for it, but it had gone. He 
looked up and saw in the sky the rainbow, and this was his thought : 
God has taken that thing of beauty from the earth, and set it in 



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the sky. The same drop that caught the light of the dawn, is 
now spanning the arch of the evening sky, in the bow of the 
covenant. This is the illustration, as he uses it, of the death of 
children ; they are bright and beautiful in the morning, and are 
transferred to the glory and kingdom of God. These are illus- 
trations of fashioning parables after the Word of God. I am 
willing to go further, and say that this old King James' version, 
with its "thee" and "thou," with its technical language of the old 
Saxon, is the best. Like Baalam, take up your parable and form 
your illustrations from things you see, after the likeness of God's 
word. 

Keep within the observation of the children^ when you use 
analogy. If there is one thing more abhorant than another, 
in a Sunday-school, it is a fiction. I know people that make up 
their stories as they go along. I have heard people get up in 
Sunday-school, and tell stories that I have heard ever since I was 
a baby, only they have located the occurrence in their own place. 
What is the effect ; if two men succeed each other within thirty 
days, and each tells the same incident, and each locates it in 
his own neighborhood, the children think they are a pack of 
lies : that no such thing ever happened. That will soon destroy 
the confidence of the children. There is great danger in telling 
old stories to the children ; they are very keen to detect shams, 
and you should be very careful not to tell them such stories as 
grown up people would be likely to call " whoppers." I would 
have very great care exercised to keep within the region of pro- 
babilities. I have heard a man. tell a story about an excellent mis- 
sionary. I have no doubt that the person from whom I heard 
it had told it so many times that he had really come to believe it. 
He said that the missionary's mother was carrying him through the 
jungle, when she saw a big old lion asleep. She was trying to 
steal away, but she stepped on a dry stick ; it cracked and the lion 
jumped up on his feet, and looked at them (I am telling you the 
story just as I heard him tell it), shook his head and said 
" woo-oo ; " then he lashed his tail violently from side to side, 
looked at them again, shook his head, and said " woo-oo-oo ; " 
then he turned around two or three times one way, and two or 
three times the other way, looked at them again, and said 
" woo-oo-oo ; " and then he put his head down between his 
paws, and went to sleep again. He told the children that, 
as an instance of special providence, and the children said it 
was a " whopper." Now, I am not saying that it is not true ; it 
may be true, but is it probable ? And it is not within the obser- 
vation of children. When you are talking to children, there are 
a great many things that will suggest themselves as appropriate 
illustrations, that are within their observation. Dr. Hart, in one 



WINDOWS OF THE WORD. 283 

of his books, says : take such things for instance as the sign ; did 
you go down the street and see " To Let," on the house ? Yes. 
Well, your soul is to let. Such a thing as the two rowers on the 
sides of the boat ; the necessity of their rowing together, in order 
to make the boat go forward and yet keep in line, is an illustra- 
tion of faith and works ; you must have both in order to make 
progress in the Christian life. Then the illustration of the trough 
for feeding horses and sheep : If it is put up at the ordinary 
height for horses, the sheep cannot reach it ; how much better if 
the box is placed at the proper height for sheep ; then both can 
use it. And he uses that as an illustration of teaching, putting 
the food so high that the children cannot reach it. All these are 
common-place things. It may be that you have had a wonderful 
experience. So did Jonah; and yet you can read the whole book 
of Jonah through, and you do not find him saying a word about 
it, when he got to Nineveh. He kept within the range of pro- 
babilities there. 

Another point : he jealous for the truth when using an illus- 
tration. There are some men who have a habit of telling their 
stories anyway, whether they fit or not ; just as that man did 
who had a good story about noise. He would stamp with his foot, 
and say, " Oh ! that is a noise ; speaking about noises reminds 
me " — and then he would go on and tell his story. He made a 
nail to hang his story on. They have a good story, and whether 
it fits into the lesson or not, they are bound to tell it ; and so they 
try to dove- tail it into the lesson. They are not jealous for the 
truth. Better sacrifice a thousand good stories and illustrations, 
than for a moment take the child's mind from the truth before it. 

And then, I think, it is a good thing to know when to stop in 
a story. When you have got out the point, stop. Don't drive on 
the head of a nail that has been driven home; it will rather 
loosen the nail. I remember well, old Bishop Johns, gone to his 
rest within the last four months, my teacher at the seminary, tell- 
ing of a gentleman speaking on the platform, who got into a ter- 
rible place. The story ran away with him, and he did not know 
what to do with it. He had a man, and he secured an iceberg 
and put the man on it. He told the height of the iceberg, and 
the circumference of it ; told how deep it went down into the 
water, and how it towered up like a spire ; and then he had the 
sunshine come down, and the prismatic colors brought out. He 
took the man away up to the top, and he brought him down 
again. He made the iceberg twist around, and put the man on 
the other side. He had that man there, and he did not know 
what in the world to do with the iceberg, or what to do with the 
man ; and after twisting it around, and turning it upside down, 
and having the ice and the water get in a very queer way, he sunk 



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it. The specific gravity of ice and water must have changed. 
When you have done with your story, sink it. There are some 
teachers who hang on too long to their stories, they are averse to 
dropping them when they have served their purpose. 

Now, bear with me in a few words upon the way scripture 
illustrates itself. I believe that to be the apostle's meaning in 
First Corinthians, ii., 13. He tells us that we are to compare 
spiritual things with spiritual. If we are to gain the meaning 
of the Spirit, the Spirit must be the interpreter ; and when we 
have so many books in one volume, they may well unravel the 
mysteries of each other, if we will treat them with the wisdom 
that God has designed they should be treated. 

Let hook illustrate hook. There is a great unity in this volume ; 
but it is a library, while it is a volume. I have had wonderful 
pleasure this winter in taking the first chapters of the book of 
Genesis, as an illustration of Second Corinthians, iv., 6, where Paul 
says "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, 
hath shined in our hearts." And then that other passage, where he 
speaks of our regeneration as a new creation. How wonderfully 
that first chapter of Genesis will illustrate the work of God in the 
soul of man! And what a warrant we have in the apostle's 
language, for using it in that way ! How can you understand 
Hebrews, without Leviticus ? Take the one word, the key-note 
of the Hebrews : the word " Better " is the key-word there. 
Better than all was Jesus Christ ; better than Moses ; better than 
Joshua ; to bring in a better testament ; to have better promises ; 
to provide a better substance; to give us better hope; to offer 
better sacrifices ; to bring to light a better country, and to 
assure us of a better resurrection. The contrast is between this 
book and Leviticus. Leviticus is the shadow, and Hebrews is the 
substance. I heard some one, the other day, talking about the 
Garden of Eden, and the flaming sword ; and he spoke about the 
cherubim having the flaming sword. Ther^ is no snch record ; 
the cherubim were not said to have anything to do with the flam- 
ing sword. If you will study the Word of God, you will find 
that the cherubim were put there for the same reason that they 
were put on the ark and the mercy-seat ; they were the tokens of 
reconciliation. When he drove out the man and the woman, 
and put the flaming sword at the gate as a token of justice, he 
joined with it the token of reconciliation. He sent them out that 
they might learn how through the shedding of blood they could 
come in again. In the book of Revelation we read our return 
and right to the tree of life. We cannot understand the Revela- 
tion without reference to the Old Testament. If you will look 
further, you will find that the books of Ezekiel and Revelation 
are directly related, as voice and antiphone. 






WINDOWS OF THE WORD. 285 

Present the 'predictions of the Bible with their fulfilment. 
People are very much afraid of the prophecies. Well, we will 
not talk about the unfulfilled prophecies: but I cannot pass 
them by without saying to you, my dear brethren, that I believe 
the promise of the personal coming of the Lord in His glory to 
gather His saints, is as much the key-note of the New Testament, 
as the coming of the Saviour to atone for the world is the key- 
note of the Old Testament. I believe that the Lord is to come 
more suddenly than we think. But already there are fulfilments 
that we can note. The book of Matthew is full of such phrases 
as this: "This happened that it might be fulfilled which was 
spoken by the prophet." It is a grand thing to show children 
how these prophecies have been fulfilled. Take the fifty-third 
chapter of Isaiah, for instance ; find out how many times that 
chapter is quoted in the New Testament, and attributed to the 
Lord Jesus Christ. " Who hath believed our report, and to whom 
is the arm of the Lord revealed V — Twice is that quoted in the 
New Testament. You will find the whole of that chapter dis- 
tinctly applied by our Lord Himself, and by His apostles, to our 
Redeemer; and yet the Jews believe that that chapter has noth- 
ing to do with Christ, but refers to the children of Israel. 

I come now to something, to which, perhaps, some of my 
brethren of the ministry will not say amen. I wish to speak of 
the types and anti-types of the scripture. Nobody can under- 
stand the types, until they see the substance. Look at the draw- 
ing of an engine, and what do you know about it ; but let an en- 
gineer come who has put one together, and he will tell you the 
whole story of the engine, from the drawings. So with the 
types ; the old patriarchs knew little of the meaning of these 
symbols. We look back now, and we see that the tabernacle and 
the temple service all pointed to Christ. It was John the Baptist, 
who said, " Behold the lamb of God." " He must increase, but 
I must decrease." There are three ways of regarding the types. 
Some expositors hold that nothing is a type except those that the 
Lord Jesus Christ identifies as such ; there are others that hold 
that only such as Christ and the apostles identify as such can 
be so regarded. But I am very radical ; I believe that this Word 
of God contains all that can be gotten out of it. It is the wisdom 
of God, and everything that can be obtained from it to throw 
light upon the Lord Jesus, I hold to be a type ; and I find a 
warrant for this view in First Corinthians, x., 11. — "Now all these 
things happened to them for ensamples." What can be more beauti- 
ful than that type of the mercy-seat ? I have that pictured on a 
screen, for my children to look at : the ark, overlaid within and 
without with pure gold ; the mercy-seat fitting into the crown ; 
the cherubim at either end, with their out-spread wings ; nothing 



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in the ark but the tables of stone. The voice of God came from 
the ark ; it was a voice of justice and mercy : justice from the 
law, and mercy from the mercy-seat. There are hundreds of 
these types that are well worth bringing out in all their fulness 
of truth; and if you will use them for the children, they will be 
lessons of the best kind. 

Now I want to say a word about the Bible and nature. If 
there is one object in life that ought to be sweeter to us than an- 
other, after the exposition of the Word of God, it is to make 
children think well of this beautiful world. Our old hymns call 
it a vale of tears, a place of shadows ; but can you conceive of 
anything more beautiful than this glorious world, which is our 
home until God takes us to himself % Just as the miracles inter- 
pret the forces of this world; so do the parables interpret the 
forms of this world. What can you know of this wonderful 
miracle that God is doing every spring, when the seed falls on 
the earth, and the ground closes over it, and then it reopens and 
the plant appears, producing from one seed a bushel sometimes, 
as well as in the marvel of the multiplied loaves ? What 
can you know of the wonderful process by which the water 
is gathered up through the rootlets of the vine, and imprisoned 
in the purple clusters, and changed to wine ; what can you know 
of this force, except from the word of Jesus, and the water that 
blushed to own its God ? The force of the earth in its ordinary 
course, is illustrated by the miracle of Christ, in His intervening 
power. In the sun, we see the sun of righteousness shining upon 
us ; in the moon, we see the glory of the Father reflected in the 
face of Jesus Christ. The stars are 

Ever singing as they shine, 
The hand that made us is Divine. 

The water as it babbles in the cooling streams, the rose, the lily 
of the valley, the vine, all are symbols of the usefulness and 
beauty of Jesus; everything, Jesus; Christ, all; Christ in all. 
So shall you educate the imaginations of the children to receive, 
and their memories to retain and to use, that Christian truth ; 
and you yourselves shall be lifted up, as on angels' wings, to see 
with John things which are unspeakable, but which the sanctified 
imagination realizes. 

May God give us to understand the use of illustration in 
Sunday-school teaching, and make us successful in illustrating 
scripture by scripture. May we strive to be bees, gathering 
honey everywhere, and not spiders, drawing all our resources 
from ourselves. So shall we not only bring souls to Christ, but 
educate them in the use of God's holy Word. 



CHAPTER, XXXIII. 



THE LONG WALK 

FOE 

YOUNG CONVERTS. 



ADDRESS BY THE REV. STEPHEN H. TYNG, JR., D.D., ON MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 

4, 1876. 



" Can two walk together except they be agreed ? " — Amos HI, 3. 

This evening I am to speak chiefly to those who have lately 
come into the fellowship of the gospel, and who purpose enter- 
ing into the communion of the church. I turn aside from the 
course of exhortation to those who know not the Lord, with the 
desire to deepen, if I may, the purpose and determination of 
those who are in the fold to stand fast. Such persons have 
found Christ; or, rather, have been found by Christ. They 
have laid aside their slothfulness ; they have lost their loneliness ; 
they have declared war against sin ; Jesus Christ is no longer to 
them a stranger ; he has become their friend, and through these 
weeks and months of their new life, they have been testing His 
fidelity, and putting to the proof His promises. With Him they 
have begun to take a long walk, and that an endless one. This 
way is declared by the Psalmist, to be the " way everlasting ; " 
not an eternal way, since it has a beginning, but an unending 
way, since the path grows brighter and brighter even unto per- 
fect day. They are continually exhorted by the apostle to walk 
according to a distinct rule, a path which is clearly marked. 
To the Colossians St. Paul writes, " as ye have received Jesus 
the Lord, so walk ye in Him." The first act of trust, — the first 
influence of His presence, — the first devotion to His service, — is 



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the model, the sample experience of every after-stage in the 
Divine life. Just as you received Him, so walk in Him day by 
day, in confession of sin, in acceptance of restoring grace, and 
in new consecration to deeds of valor and devotion for His glory. 
I suppose that the best parable we have of this Christian life, 
under the figure given by the prophet, is that walk of the two 
disciples from Jerusalem to Emmaus, after the resurrection of the 
Lord ; you note first, that they walk together ; they had many 
questionings of mind, much care-taking, great fear. Suddenly 
they were conscious of a presence with them ; it was strange to 
them in all its appearance and its claim of relation. Bye-and-bye 
they learned who the stranger was, but only after He opened 
to them the scriptures, and made their hearts burn within them. 
"When the discovery had been made, they invited this Jesus whom 
they had met, and with whom, in much fearfulness and doubt, 
they had walked, to be their guest. They received Him into their 
house, and gave Him a place at their table, and so they learned 
the life of trust in a Christ constantly revealing Himself in new 
relations and adaptations to the soul. 

Even so we start, with the fact of the companionship of 
Christ. We grow into the knowledge of His peculiar person and 
power in our behalf. We reach new recognitions of the Lord, 
who is our companion. We have attained the spirit of the walk 
when we gradually make Him one with us in our seasons of re- 
tirement, of festivity, of labor, about the table, in the house, and 
wheresoever God may have appointed us our path of life. It 
will be greatly good for those of you who belong to the Lord 
Jesus, if you will, just for a moment, look back to the moment 
when you gave yourself to Him, and, as though there had been 
no parenthesis of deadness or indifference, on the part of some of 
you, you should now renew the old attachment and start again 
on a long walk with Christ. 

I. The prophet asks the question, " Can two walk together, 
except they be agreed ? " and the form of the question undoubted- 
ly implies, first of all, The real presence of the manifested God 
in Christ. You cannot begin living by the power of Christ until 
the fact of a living Christ has been seized by your faith. The 
Roman Catholic church has done much to bring near to the 
hearts of the people the real living presence of Christ, and I am 
persuaded that much of its activity has sprung from that percep- 
tion. And, yet, in that church you have only two aspects of the 
life of Christ presented: He is either a child in the arms of the 
Madonna, or He is a dead Christ, on the cross. If this presence 
of Jesus in His infancy and in His dying shall exert so manifest 
a control over the emotions and become so positive a motive in 
life, how much rather when we regard Him, not now as dead, 



THE LONG WALK. 289 

but as risen again, not now only as risen but as ascended, 
nor only so, but as having fulfilled the promise that He 
will come again; for, in the fourteenth chapter of John, 
at the eighteenth verse, He distinctly told His disciples, " I will 
not leave you comfortless, I will come to you." It was a marvel 
that perplexed their faith : " Yet a little while and the world 
seeth me no more " ; " Because I live ye shall live also." He 
anticipated the gathering together of the disciples in little groups, 
even as Christian experience and history have related us one to 
another ; and He declared, in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew, 
" Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there 
am I in the midst of them." There is no possibility of a believer 
being without Christ. Wheresoever he goes, Christ goes with him ; 
and two or three believers together, duplicate, triplicate the influence 
of the presence of Christ. Then the promise is, that when He thus 
comes to us by the Spirit, when He thus is in our midst, and we- 
recognize Him as a common centre : " I will never leave thee ncr 
forsake thee " ; so that the apostle writes to the Hebrews, " We 
may boldly say, The Lord is my helper." This is the glorious fact 
which present faith has to grasp ; not simply to look back upon 
the cross, there to see the reason of freedom from condemnation ; 
nor only to look down into the sepulchre, and, seeing its empti- 
ness, know that we are justified by His rising from the dead , nor 
yet, again, to look up into the heavens and behold Him standing 
as our Intercessor, but to recognize that in our midst, by our 
side, inseparate from our identity, is the living Christ, whom we 
can no more destroy or drive from the world than we can the 
influences of God's own unmanifested presence. 

Sometimes this becomes the consciousness of the believer. It 
is a blessed thing w T hen it is so. But whether he be conscious of 
it or not, he has a confidence in the fact. Sometimes he can al- 
most touch Christ, so real does He become as a friend and com- 
panion ; he can almost see Him. His prayer goes right into the 
ear of his Lord, as though whispered in secret communication 
from mouth to ear. This is a high experience and most joyful 
attainment. But whether one has it or not, dear friend, let him 
be satisfied that Presence is there, keeping him, guarding him, 
providing for him, watching over him in all the ways in which 
he goes. Walking with Christ implies the real presence of the 
real Lord. O ! tell me what can dignify daily life like this ? 
What can lift one up above the troubles and cares and anxieties 
of this world like that — to know T that He who ruleth over all, and 
whose heart is overflowing with love, is by my right hand, to 
keep me ; and is my rear-guard, to defend me ? 

II. Then, the prophet's language implies, secondly, Oneness 
of sentimfnt with Christ: " Can two walk together, except they 



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be agreed ? " There are two men whose faces I know well, but 
whose names I do not know, whom, every day of my life, I meet 
walking in the morning to their business, and at night returning 
to their homes. They are manifestly not casual acquaintances. 
They are in conference when they are conversing. Controversy 
I have never seen between them. The whole aspect of the men 
indicates an agreement. Indeed, I cannot see how one could walk 
twice a day with a man with whom he is keeping up a wordy war. 
It would seem that the Lord's language was literally true, "A 
house divided against itself cannot stand ;" and two friends who 
are always controverting in opinion, after awhile come to desire 
that there shall be a distance between them in space, even as 
there is in sentiment. If we are walking constantly with the 
living Lord, the implication is that we have entered into His 
thoughts, and it is only here that any believer can find the secret 
of constancy. If you have a mind of your own, which is con- 
trary to His mind, you will want to be far from Him in your 
daily living. If you have a will which is contrary to His will, 
His presence is a continual rebuke, and the confidence that He is 
there is to have a mentor at one's side, and that which is the 
great privilege of the earnest, trusting disciple becomes the 
great trial of the one who is half-hearted in service. To have 
one's thoughts consent to Christ's thoughts, one's love filled with 
Christ's love, and reciprocating the great love He bore us in His 
work and in His Spirit, to have one's purposes daily yielding to 
Christ's higher purposes, to have one's actions controlled by this 
invisible Presence, Whom, having not seen, we love, Whom, 
though now we see Him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy 
unspeakable ; — this is to take the long walk without slip, without 
shadow, without care. 

Dear friends, realizing, somewhat, the presence of Christ 
with you, learn to walk with Him, as a disciple walks with the 
Master. How often we see it in the little child holding the hand 
of the teacher, and going with equal steps, as thought and ex- 
perience leads. So accept the guidance of this invisible Christ, and 
let Him lead you on, governing and controlling your thinking, as 
well as your doing. Learn to walk with Christ, as a child with a 
father, in absolute confidence that He will take care that nothing 
shall happen for which He will not provide. Learn to walk with 
Christ, as an inferior with a superior, dignified by nearness to 
Him. Oh, how pitiful, in some Christians, is the shame to be 
known as having the presence of Christ ! There is not a situa- 
tion in life, in which you are, which is not infinitely inferior to 
the G-od of all grace, and upon which He does not look as a very 
little thing ; and you only glorify your influence, you only exalt 
your attainments, you only consecrate that which is confessed by 



THE LONG WALK. 291 

men to be power, when you submit to Him, as one greatly su- 
perior, leading and controlling. So He reminds us, over and 
over again, of the great grace of Jesus, in permitting us, thus 
sinful in ourselves, infirm in our best experiences, full of error in 
our minds, our wills, our loves, to walk with Him by the way. 

III. The third implication given in the text is, growth un- 
friendship. If we walk continually as agreed in sentiment, 
surely the unity of those that are companions shall increase. It 
is never to me a marvel that young believers become somewhat 
inconsistent and wayward. The spirit which leads one to point 
the finger at the first inconsistency, or the first lapse of a new-born 
child in the family of grace, is a very silly thing. It is utter 
ignorance of the whole work of the Spirit upon the life of man. 
But I tell you I am surprised when I look clowm at men and 
women who for years have been professed followers of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, who have had opportunity to study His character, 
to be brought into the knowledge of His person, to understand 
His gracious relations, and hear of them as wayward and incon- 
stant ; when they have had five, ten, twenty years of knowledge, 
and yet have not grown in friendship ; when the company of 
drunkards is more grateful than the company of saints ; when 
the mere frivolity of worldly attraction and amusement is more 
to their liking than the songs of the people of God and the ex- 
position of the Word of God ; when they stand as beacons of 
warning to young saints, rather than attractive influences into 
the higher life. This is sad. Weep, O ! ye angels of God, over 
souls that know Christ and yet dishonor Him. And yet, dear 
friends, if we walk with Him agreed in sentiment, we must walk in 
a continually intensifying friendship, and he who does not increase 
in friendship for Christ, casts a shadow of self- delusion over his 
profession of Christ. Methinks there will be sorrow and sadness in 
that great day, when souls who have eaten and drunk with Christ 
in the Church shall hear Him say, " Depart ! depart ! I never 
knew you." Let us fear lest our Christian life be only a sham 
for the eye of man, which God shall see through and through. 

If our friendship grows, it shall grow in unity of spirit. In 
the First Epistle to the Corinthians, at the sixth chapter and 
seventeenth verse, the apostle Paul declares that we are then 
brought into one spirit : " He that is joined unto the Lord is one 
spirit." If you note that text, you wull see he flanks it on each 
side with sinful indulgences, — how those that have gone astray 
have been conformed to the spirit of those with whom they have 
been associated ; and just as these have been degraded, so " He 
that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit." I must have the 
spirit of Christ, if I am to grow in His friendship, — the spirit of 
self-renunciation, of condescension, of gentleness, of denial for 



292 UNDER CANVAS. 

the blessing of others ; each believer in his relation to the Lord, 
with whom he walks, should seek to grow in these attainments. 
So we are declared by the apostle to be those who grow in the 
knowledge of Christ, that we may be transformed after His 
Spirit — " not walk after the flesh, but after the Spirit," and 
other passages to which you can easily refer. These are the im- 
plications of those who walk with a real living Christ, — oneness 
of sentiment with Him, and daily growth in His friendship and 
communion. 

Now, I suppose that many of you have come into this very 
relation and experience. Having entered upon this walk, mind 
these few cautions : 

1. Keej? step with Christ as you walk. That which in the 
marching army is a regulation of the code, is no less needful in 
the quiet, peaceful walk of the believer with his Lord. O ! dear 
young friends, remember the dignity of your companionship. 
The apostle, in Coloss. i., 10, says, "Walk worthy of the Lord." 
Walk so that He shall never be brought into shame, so that 
His name shall never be impugned, so that the gospel shall never 
be degraded in the eyes of men. Let me tell you, that those who 
are in business with you, brother, read you more than they do their 
Bible. Ye are " the epistles of God, known and read " of those 
about you, and the views which multitudes have of Jesus are de- 
rived from the lives, daily, hourly of His people. Keep step with 
Christ. Where He goes do you go. Where He cannot go, 
do you never go. I sat, yesterday, talking with a young friend 
about worldly indulgences, and I put this simple question to Mm : 
" Would you, if you were under deep personal conviction of sin, 
if you had been brought down under great sorrow, if you needed 
wise guidance for your soul and sympathy in your grief, would 
you go to a Christian whom you had met the night before in the 
playhouse, or at a ball ? " " No, I certainly should not." And 
yet, he told me of those, behind whom he was sheltering himself 
in indulgence, as having been seen in both places. God forbid 
that any person in this church should thus ally himself with the 
things that are spotted by the flesh ! But if we have no other 
plan of action than this, it is enough : "I am Christ's keeper in 
this world, even as Christ is my keeper ; I am set for the defence 
of the gospel, even as Christ is set for my defence." And it is the 
great responsibility of every believer so to stand, so to walk, so to 
run, that there may be no mistake as to whom he belongs, whom 
he serves, and what is the tendency and influence of his life. I 
have said over and over again in this place that I believe the 
great curse of the society of New York is not its drunkenness, is 
not its habitual licentiousness, but is its mass of unconverted 
church members. If the membership of the churches of New 



THE LONG WALK. 293 

York walked step by step with Christ, sin w r ould hide its face and 
flee away from all reputable associations. 

2. Let me say, again, that not only are you to submit your- 
self to Christ, and keep step with Him, but lean upon Christ. I 
read in Solomon's Song(viii., 5), that the bride "cometh up from 
the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved," and I learn from the 
image, these two facts : that she cast her weight upon Christ, and 
she kept near to Christ. I cannot lean upon something that is 
far from me, and when I lean, I bear down my infirmities upon 
Him, that I may be sustained. And yet, some persons have 
tried to improve God's Word, and I suppose many of you, when I 
quote the text, will think it has been quoted wrong, for these im- 
provers of the Bible write it, " She cometh up from the wilder- 
ness, leaning upon the arm of her beloved." Ah ! the arm of 
Christ is not enough for me. There are times when I need more 
than the arm of Christ. It is to lean upon a whole Christ, 
" Leaning upon her beloved," the Spirit of God says. There are 
times when I need to lean upon the Godhead of Christ, for 
manhood will not be sufficient. There are other times when I 
need the manhood in sympathy. There are times when I need 
to rest upon every distinct attribute of the Lord Jesus, all the 
offices in His own maintenance of grace. It is a whole Christ 
upon whom we lean, and with whom we walk. Now, I beg of 
you, thus come to Christ, with the intention, from the first step 
to the last, of leaning upon Him ; if you expect to stand straight 
up as a Christian, you have made a great mistake ; your attitude 
is always oblique, for you are resting, you are leaning upon, you 
are supported by this invisible Saviour, who has promised to keep 
you in all your ways. 

3. Then, third, avoid all stumbling-stones. There are sin- 
ners all around to trip you up. The apostle advises you to be- 
ware of these, for he was not ignorant of Satan's devices. He 
writes us (Eph., v., 15), " See, then, that ye walk circumspectly : 
not as fools but as wise." Mark you, He is writing to Christians, 
when He says this, for some of them walked as fools, and forgot 
the Divine wisdom. We are surrounded with things that tempt 
us astray. There is no life so much in danger as that which has 
just started on the road with Christ. Satan attacks such with 
all his weapons. His effort is to dwarf, to destroy the believer, if 
he may. ISTow, I beg you give all these things a wide margin. 
You remember the quaint story of Dean Swift, who advertised 
for a coachman, and when the applicants came, he put the simple 
test question to them, " How near can you drive to a precipice ?" 
One man answered that he could drive within three feet ; another 
one foot; a self-confident Englishman said that he could pass 
safely within three inches, if he had a well-balanced coach; but a 



294 UNDER CANVAS. 

witty Irishman replied, " Well, an' it plase yer Riverence, I'd jist 
kape as far off as 1 can ;" and the Dean, well pleased, said, " You're 
the man I want." Let us give as wide a berth to the precipice 
as possible. If you sit down and ask yourself, " What's the 
harm ? " be sure that one wheel is over the precipice. Just as 
soon as the Christian gets into that attitude, he is in danger. 
As soon as he begins to apologise for the thing he is doing, 
lie has a sad cause to defend. You had better give it up ; enter 
a nolle prosequi, as the lawyers say. Begin anew. Avoid 
all stumbling blocks, and especially be careful, ye Christians, how 
ye put stumbling-stones in the people's way. Forego things that 
are even lawful to you, rather than that others fall ; remem- 
bering the words of the apostle (Rom xiv., 13), " Let us not, 
therefore, judge one another any more ; but judge this rather, 
that no man put a stumbling-block or an occasion to fall in his 
brother's way." 

„ 4. Then, lastly, look forward to an endless walk. An old 
writer says, " Enoch started for a walk with God ; he walked all 
through the day, and God took him, and he kept on walking, and 
he has never come back." For you who start to walk with 
Christ, there is no end; we but begin in this world, contin- 
uing the journey in a life-long companionship ; but O ! when 
comes the hour of death, when everyone else ceases to walk with 
us, when all they can do is to stand by our bedside and weep over 
us, when not a word of sympathy or love, or an office of help 
can relieve us, Oh ! what shall we do then ? How sweetly David 
says : " Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of 
death, I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy 
staff: they comfort me." It seems to me I would walk close to 
Christ for seventy years if I could only be certain that He would 
walk with me through the dark into which I see so many plunge 
hopelessly, despairingly. If there were no joy in this companion- 
ship now, to be sure that He would be with me then would be 
compensation enough. And then, when we pass through the 
water, and come to the gates of pearl, over the portal is written, 
" Everlasting !" " The everlasting way !" In Revelations, iii., 
4, John tells us we shall walk with him in white. And (Rev. 
xiv., 4) " These are they which follow the Lamb whitherso 
ever He goeth." Not a single step in heaven is taken away from 
the side of our gracious Lord. We are brought into com- 
panionship more close and into revelations of His grace more 
satisfying. Now, dear friends, dismiss from your minds the idea 
that this presence of Christ is but for a time. It is our eternal 
life begun ; it is the hidden companionship attained ; it is the 
eternal growth already manifested. Look forward to it as your 
portion forever. Strive after progress in the knowledge of 



THE LONG WALK. 295 

Christ, in the love and fellowship of Christ, in delight in the 
Saviour; but O! be sure that that Saviour who hath said, "I 
will nevei* leave thee" on earth, never will leave thee in heaven. 

These are the cautions I would give to young Christians. Keep 
step with Christ ; always lean upon a whole Christ ; avoid all 
stumbling-blocks in the way, and look forward to that pleasing 
portion of ever being with the Lord in sweet companion ship at 
home. 

But some of you have never started on this endless walk. You 
are still walking in the path that leadeth down to death. My 
dear friends, you must meet Christ, if you are to walk with Him; 
and the place where you can meet Christ for this companionship 
is the place of the cross. If you will now come and submit your- 
selves to the Saviour that died for you ; if you will give your confid- 
ence to the Saviour that rose again for you, He has said, " I will 
manifest Myself to you as I do not unto the world." Who will 
meet Christ at the place of the cross, and begin this day to walk 
with the invisible Saviour, whose face we shall bye and-bye see ? 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 



CONCLUSION 



Unclasp, O man, the syren hand of pleasure, 

Let the gay folly go ! 
A few quick years will bring the unwelcome ending ; 

Then whither dost thou go, 
To endless joy or woe ? 

Clasp a far truer hand — a kinder, stronger — 

Of Him the crucified ; 
Let in a deeper love into thy spirit, 

The love of Him who died, 
And now is glorified! — Bonar. 



And now, dear reader, our task of privilege and pleasure is 
nearly at an end, for there remains but little to add. We appre- 
ciate very much the privilege we have enjoyed of seeing so many 
excellent expositions of the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ, through the press. The pleasure has been commensur- 
ately great, for nothing but the most encouraging support has 
been received from all quarters, and we rest assured that this 
volume will be welcomed into many a home as. a herald of " glad 
tidings." Our main effort has been to make it essentially a 
representative work — one that shall be acknowledged as wholly 
free from sectarianism, and not written in the interest of any 
denomination or individuals, but simply for the good of the cause, 
and as a help to Christians throughout the world. Should it fall 
(as no doubt it will) into the hands of unconverted persons, its 



CONCLUSION. 297 

teachings are in charge of God the Holy Ghost, and, with His 
blessing, they will be applied in some inscrutable way to the 
enhancement of the Redeemer's kingdom. We earnestly ask 
Christian readers to pray for such a result. 

It is hardly necessary to say, that to the New York Gospel 
Tent must be given the credit, if any there be, for the produc- 
tion of the book. The influence of that work — the first real 
summer revival witnessed in any large city in this country — is 
destined to be largely felt in the future ; much more so than it is 
at the present time, for there were not a few men of remarkable 
character and power who there became " new creatures in Christ 
Jesus," who will inevitably make their mark as good soldiers of 
the Cross. 

We have heretofore omitted to mention that throughout the 
whole period that the canvas house of God reared its stately head 
heavenwards, a faithful few devoted their time to a noon-day 
prayer-meeting, which was greatly blessed. Those who attended 
were mostly ladies, and the special object of the summer worship 
was always remembered at the throne of grace. Nor was the 
cause of temperance neglected, special meetings being held each 
Simday afternoon, and many there were who were rescued from 
Satan's most seductive snare and the world's greatest curse, by 
means of the simple Word of God which informs all men that 
in " the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength " — strength, and the 
only strength that can snatch the slave to the cup from a wretched 
death and a worse hell beyond. There is no cure for intemper- 
ance to be found outside the gospel, and the sooner that fact is 
recognized, the better for the cause. 

We would suggest to those who in the future may undertake 
similar work to that carried on in the tent, a very simple but 
effective means of inducing non-church-goers and the public 
generally to attend the meetings, especially in large towns. Let 
a few young men take up positions within a reasonable distance 
of the place of worship about an hour each evening previous to 
the time of' meeting, and give to passers-by a neat, printed slip, 
inviting all to join in the service. This may seem a very trivial 
thing, but it should not be overlooked on that account. The effect 
on the attendance will be really astonishing. Again, we would 
strongly recommend a preliminary service of song — say fifteen 



CONCLUSION. 299 

minutes — witli the doors open. There are always people strolling 
about who have no particular object in view, who, by these means, 
may be induced to give the Word of God a hearing. Diplomacy 
and tact are as necessary in evangelistic labors as in worldly 
matters. 

In connection with the Rev. Dr. Tyng's tent, it is but justice 
to say, that the New York Daily Witness was in sympathy with, 
and did much to support the summer evangelisation of the city, by 
furnishing daily reports of the services, thus keeping them con- 
tinually before the public. The support of the press generally 
is much needed in work of this kind, and every effort should be 
made to secure it, no matter where the location may be. 

The American Tract Society was also in thorough sympathy 
with the work, and did a noble part, in giving up the services of 
their veteran missionary, good old Uncle John Yassar, whose 
helpfulness was felt by all who came in contact with him. His 
child-like faith and simplicity took firm hold of the anxious 
inquirers, and many were the souls awarded him by the Master. 

Heretofore, we have carefully avoided anything approaching 
eulogy, or even mention, of individuals, believing that those who 
worked during the hot season had their reward in the knowledge 
that they were laboring for the Lord, and we content ourselves 
with saying in this concluding chapter that the Executive Com- 
mittee of the New York Gospel Tent was composed of the Rev. 
Stephen H. Tyng, jr., D.D., Rev. "William Humpstone, William 
P. Southworth, R. H. Macy, Edward L. Owen, D. K Beardsley 
and S. T. Williams. Of these, Mr. W. P. Southworth was the 
Chairman and Director, who along with many others, kept 
steadily at the revival throughout its four months of life. 

We now conclude, as we began, with an expression of the 
hope that in the coming summer the Lord will have dedicated to 
Him canvas tabernacles in the principal cities of the United 
States, wherein His glorious gospel may be proclaimed. With- 
out doubt, the gospel tent is an excellent means of reaching the 
masses and of sustaining religious interest, where, in the past, 
there has been nothing but apathy — nay, even deadness. The 
success of this movement, and of those in Brooklyn, chronicled 
in preceding pages, should stimulate Christian effort throughout 
the land in this direction. There are two points we here wish to 



300 UNDER CANVAS. 

mention to the reader, and first, that we shall be happy at all 
times to furnish any practical information and particulars about 
this special kind of work which we may have omitted to give in 
this volume, on application being made to us, addressed 44 East 
Forty-third street, New York City ; and secondly, we shall be 
glad to hear from our readers on the contents of this book gen- 
erally, or as to any particular chapter being used in the nature 
of a tract, or otherwise, for general distribution. 

And now, ere we put the pen down, we adopt the words of 
the poet whose name appears at the commencement of this 
chapter : 

We thank Thee for the blood, 

The blood of Christ, Thy Son ; 
The blood by which our peace is made, 
Our victory is won : 
Great victory o'er hell, and sin, and woe, 
That needs no second fight, and leaves no second foe. 

We thank Thee for the grace 

Descending from above, 
That overflows our widest guilt, 
The eternal Father's love : 
Love of the Father's everlasting Son, 
Love of the Holy Ghost, Jehovah, three in One. 

We thank Thee for the hope, 

So glad, and sure, and clear, 
It holds the drooping spirit up 
Till the long dawn appear : 
Fair hope ! with what a sunshine does it cheer 
Our roughest path on earth, our dreariest desert here I 

We thank Thee for the crown 

Of glory and of life ; 
'Tis no poor with'ring wreath of earth, 
Man's prize in mortal strife : 
'Tis incorruptible as is the throne, 
The Kingdom of our God and His Incarnate Son. 



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